* 



I 



¥ 

i 



THE //S 

VIRGINIA SPRINGS: 



OMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF ALL THE PRINCIPAL MINERAL SPRINGS 

OF TIRGINIA, WITH REMARKS ON THE NATURE 'AND 

MEDICAL APPLICABILITY OF EACH, 



By JOHN J. MOORMAN, M. D., 

For many years Resident Physician at the White Sulphur Springs, 

SECOND EDITION. 

GREATLY ENLARGED. 

WITH MAP AND PLATES, 

AND THE ROUTES AND DISTANCES TO THE VARIOUS SPBINGS. 

ALSO AN 



APPENDIX 



CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE NATURAL CURIOSITIES OF 

VIRGINIA. 



J. W. RANDOLPH: 

121 MAIN STREET, RICHMOND, VA. 
1857. 



I 



S 



^.v 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 
J. W. RANDOLPH, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court in and for the Eastern 
District of Virginia. 



A 



C> H» WYNNE* PRINTER. 



■s 



:■ 



I 

TO THE PUBLIC 



For many years I have directed my especial 
and almost exclusive attention to an investigation 
of the nature and medical applicability of- mineral 
waters. During the greater part of this time, I 
nave resided at the White Sulphur Springs, where, 
XI the capacity of resident physician of that ex- 
pensive watering place, I have enjoyed ample op- 
portunities for witnessing the various and modified 
effects of the water, in almost every variety of 
lisease and state of the system. 

Although my attention, during this time, has 
)een especially directed to the investigation of 
he character of the water of the White Sulphur, 
i have not neglected the other valuable waters of 
he great " spring region," nor failed to mark 
md appreciate their various peculiarities, and re- 
ative and positive merits. 



IV PREFACE. 

The main design of the present volume is, to 
bring the waters of the White Sulphur Springs, 
as a therapeutical agent, in a condensed view, be- 
fore the public; to state what is known of their 
applicability to disease; and to lay down some 
general rules for their administration; and at the 
same time, to present such an account of the 
neighboring Springs, as to enable the public to 
understand something of their general character, 
and to appreciate their merits. They are all 
valuable, and have their peculiar applicability ; all 
rich in objects of special inquiry, and well de- 
serving the attention of the profession, and the 
public generally. To have gone into a more par- 
ticular account of the springs, however, would 
have swelled this volume far beyond its intended 
limits : Besides, while long observation has made 
me somewhat familiar with the nature and pecu- 
liarities of the White Sulphur water, I know far 
less of the peculiarities of the other springs, and | 
do not wish to seem to teach that which I do not 
myself understand. 

The position of the writer, while it has ena- 
bled him to witness the virtues of the White 



PREFACE. V 

Sulphur water in disease, has, at the same time, 
enabled him to see that its good effects are not 
only often lost, but that consequences highly in- 
jurious sometimes result from its injudicious use. 
Impressed with the importance of arresting the 
abuse of this potent agent, I published in 1839, 
U A Directory for the use of the White Sulphur 

i waters.'' It was with reluctance I then under- 
took this pioneer effort in a field so entirely un- 

i explored ; for it is remarkable, that although 
thousands of invalids had for more than half a 
century annually resorted to these waters, up to 
the period of issuing the "Directory," not a line 
had ever been published relative to their medical 
applicability and the mode of administering them. 
Being satisfied, from the experience of the last 
seven years, that the little effort alluded to has 
not been without its effects in guiding to a more 
prudent use of the waters, I have thought that 
a work on the same general plan, but more com- 
prehensive in its scope, and more specific in its 

instruction, might be useful and acceptable to the 

* 
spring-going public. 

So little has been written in reference to our 



VI PREFACE. 

valuable mineral waters, that it seems to be the 
duty of every one who may have had any expe- 
rience with them to contribute his mite. ' No 
other motives than a desire to offer to the pub- 
lic the little that experience has taught me in 
reference to them, induces me to publish this 
volume. I regret that incessant engagements, 
claiming my entire time, have prevented me from 
bestowing that care in its composition and ar- 
rangement so necessary to one who is utterly 
unpracticed and unskilled as an author. The 
work, such as it is, has been composed in the 
fractions of time that I could snatch from pro- 
fessional engagements and agricultural cares. 
With this apology for the many imperfections in 
style and arrangement which will be discovered, I 
submit the volume to an indulgent and generous 
public. 

JOHN J. MOORMAN. 
Fancy Hill, 



i 



November, 1846, 



TO THE 

INVALIDS 

WHO MAY RESORT TO THE VARIOUS 

MINERAL SPRINGS OF VIRGINIA, 

THIS SECOND EDITION 

OF MY OBSERVATIONS ON THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS 

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 

WITH THE FOLLOWING 

REMARKS. 

I have endeavored, in getting up the second edition 
of my volume, to adhere to the plain, unassuming, 
practical method, which was, I think, a characteristic 
distinction of the first, and perhaps its chief merit. 

It was my earnest aim in the first edition, and has 
not been less so in this, to put into the hands of the 
invalid a short and easy, but condensed and compre- 
hensive account of the principal mineral waters of Vir- 
ginia, and to indicate with all candor, and with as 
much plainness as possible, their nature and medical 
applicability. 



yiii PREFACE. 

Wherever I could do so to advantage, I have availed 
myself of the observations of others; and I claim at 
your hands this award of merit at least; of having 
honestly endeavored to make my little volume conve- 
nient and valuable to you; not by dazzling and futile 
theories, or by an attempt to create hopes that might 
end in sad disappointments; but by plain, practical 
facts in relation to the nature and use of our mineral 
waters generally, and especially of those with which I 
have now had practical observations for near twenty 
years. 

I intentionally avoided, in my first edition, and in 
this, any criticism upon the improvement of spring 
property, or the character of the accommodations at 
the several springs. Such criticism in a printed vol- 
ume, intended for reference long after it issues from 
the press, would be likely to mislead, and probably do 
great injustice, inasmuch as improvements now very 
faulty, may, before the next season, be made very com- 
fortable, and bad hotel accommodations are often 
changed in a day, by a change of landlord or manager. 

It is of the nature and medical applicability of our 
mineral waters that I have felt called upon to write; 
and this I have done without prejudice, fear or favor; 
having no interest, directly or indirectly, in any of the 



PREFACE. IX 

springs, and influenced alone in my estimation of them 
either from personal observation, or, when this has 
been wanting, from the most reliable information I 
could collect. 

I am not vain enough to suppose that none of my 
opinions are erroneous — to err is both human and 
common; but in the honest integrity with which they 
have been formed, the invalid and the public may 
rely. 

THE AUTHOR. 

Fancy Hill, Va., 1854. 



VARIOUS ROUTES 



TO THE 



VIRGINIA SPRINGS 



The various routes to the spring region of Virginia, 
have all been greatly improved within the last few years. 
Either by private or public conveyance, persons can now 
reach our mountains with far greater ease, safety and 
expedition than they could have done some years ago. 

Taking Baltimore as a starting point, the Virginia 
Springs may be reached by a variety of routes. One of 
the most pleasant, and as expeditious as any other, is by 
railroad to Harper's Ferry, thence to Winchester by 
a similar conveyance, and thence by stage-coach, on a 
good M'Adamized road, to Staunton. From Staunton 
the traveler may proceed directly across the North and 
Warm Spring Mountains to the Warm and Hot Springs, 
by way of the Bath Alum; or, he may proceed up the 
Valley, by the way of Lexington, the Natural Bridge 
and Dibrell's Springs to the White Sulphur. 

By this Valley route, the traveler has the advantage 
of seeing Harper's Ferry, and the romantic meeting of 
the waters of the Potomac and Shenandoah: to see 



Xll ROUTES TO THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS. 

which, Mr. Jefferson said, was " worth a voyage across 
the Atlantic;" he travels almost the whole length of 
the Shenandoah valley, in agricultural points of view, 
decidedly the most fertile and interesting portion of 
Virginia. He passes within seven miles of the famous 
Weyer's Cave, and may conveniently visit it by losing 
one day in his travel; and last, though not least, he 
may pass over the celebrated Natural Bridge, with an 
allowance of time, if he be in a public conveyance, to 
take a glimpse at its magnificent structure. 

Another route from Baltimore is, to proceed by the 
way of Washington and Fredericksburg to Richmond; 
or, from Baltimore you may reach Richmond by steam- 
boat, down the Chesapeake Bay, by the way of Old 
Point Comfort, Norfolk, and up James River. From 
Richmond to the Springs, you have choice of three 
routes : either to take the Danville and South-Side Rail 
Roads, or Canal Boat, to Lynchburg, ; or the Central Rail 
Road by way of Charlottesville to Staunton, and thence 
into the spring region. 

When the traveler is at Lynchburg, he has again a 
choice of routes : he may go by rail to Bonsack's, 
or Salem, and thence by stages to the Sweet Springs; 
or to Newbern, and from there by stage to Red Sul- 
phur; or, he may take a Canal- Boat thirty-six miles to 
the Natural Bridge, and thence by stage to Dibrell's 
Springs and White Sulphur. 

The several routes making Richmond a point, give to 
the traveler an opportunity of seeing the metropolis of 
the State, and the University of Virginia, situated near 



ROUTES TO THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS. Xlll 

the flourishing village of Charlottesville. In common 
with the " Valley route/' it extends to the traveler an 
opportunity of seeing the Natural Bridge without much 
delaying his journey. 

The western and south-western traveler to the Virginia 
Springs, has but little choice of routes. The usual way 
of reaching them from those quarters is, to disembark 
from a steamboat at Guyandotte, and proceed by stage- 
coaches into the spring region. The Blue Sulphur is 
reached in one hundred and thirty-eight miles from 
Guyandotte, the White Sulphur in one hundred and 
sixty. Travelers sometimes take the Kanawha Boats at 
Louisville or Cincinnati, and proceed up the Kanawha 
river to Charleston, where they take the stage; the for- 
mer route, however, commands a general preference. 



SYNOPSIS OF ROUTES 

Of Travel from the Northern y Eastern and Middle States ) 
to the Mineral Springs of Western Virginia. 



"Where from. 



Richmond, 

Richmond, 

Richmond, 

Richmond, 

Richmond, 

Richmond, 

Port Walthall, 

Richmond, 

Richmond, 

Richmond, 

Richmond, 

Junction, 

Richmond, 

3-ordonsville, 

Staunton, 

Millboro', 

Jackson's Riv'r, 

Jackson's Riv'r, 

Jackson's Riv'r, 

Jackson's Riv'r, 

Jackson's Riv'r, 

Jackson's Riv'r, 

tfillboro', 

Vlillboro', 

Vlillboro', 

Millboro', 

Vlillboro', 

ji-oshen, 



Conveyances. 



Rail Road, 
Rail Road, 
Rail Road, 
Canal Boat, 
Steamboat, 
Rail Road, 
Steamboat, 
Rail Road, 
Stage &R.R 
Rail Road, 
Rail Road, 
Rail Road, 
Rail Road, 
Rail Road, 
Rail Road, 
Rail Road, 
Stage; 
Stage, 
Stage 
Stage 
Stage 
Stage 
Stage 
Stage 
Stage 
Stage 
Stage 
Stage 



To what place. 



Charlottesville, 
Top of Blue Ridge, 
Staunton, 
Lynchburg, 
Old Point, 
Port Walthall, 
Old Point, 
Farmville, 
Huguenot Springs, 
Amelia Springs, 
Junction, 
Lynchburg, 
GJ-ordonsville, 
Staunton, 
Millboro', 
Jackson's River, 
White Sulphur, 
Sweet Springs, 
Red Sweet, 
Salt Sulphur, 
Red Sulphur, 
Blue Sulphur, 
Rockbridge Alum, 
Bath Alum, 
Warm Springs, 
Hot Springs, 
Healing Springs, 
Lexington, 



Miles, 



97 
116 
140 
146 
130 

18 
100 

70 

16 

40 

54 

72 

76 

62 

40 

26 

30 

32 

31 

54J 

71 

51 

6 

10 

15 

20 

23 

19 



XVI 



SYNOPSIS OF ROUTES 



Where from. 


Conveyances. 


To what place. 


Mile3. 


Goshen, 


Stage, 


Natural Bridge, 


35 


"Washington, 


Steamboat, 


Aquia Creek, 


50 


Aquia Creek, 


Rail Road, 


Fredericksburg, 


13 


Aquia Creek, 


Rail Road, 


Junction, 


56 


Aquia Creek, 


Rail Road, 


Richmond, 


76 


Junction, 


Rail Road, 


Gordonsville, 


45 


Gordonsville, 


Rail Road, 


Charlottesville, 


22 


Charlottesville, 


Rail Road, 


Staunton, 


40 


Staunton, 


Stages, 


Augusta Springs, 


12 


Staunton, 


Stages, 


Weyer's Cave, 


14 


White Sulphur, 


Stages, 


Sweet & Red Springs, 


16 


W 7 hite Sulphur, 


Stages, 


Salt and Blue, 


25 


W 7 hite Sulphur, 


Stages, 


Red Sulphur, 


45 


Salt Sulphur, 


Stages, 


Red Sulphur, 


17 


Lynchburg, 


Canal Boat, 


Buchanan, 


48 


Buchanan, 


Stages, 


Dagger's Spring, 


16 


Buchanan, 


Stages, 


Covington, 


38 


Buchanan, 


Stages, 


White Sulphur, 


59 


Buchanan, 


Stages, 


Fincastle, 


12 


Buchanan, 


Stages, 


Natural Bridge, 


12 


Lynchburg, 


Canal Boat, 


Cedar Creek, 


35 


Cedar Creek, 


Stage, 


Natural Bridge, 


2 


Natural Bridge, 


Stage, 


Dibrell's Spring, 


19 


Natural Bridge, 


Stage, 


Lexington, 


17 


Lexington, 


Stage, 


Rock. Alum Springs, 


17 


Lynchburg, 


Rail Road, 


Bonsack's, 


47 


Lynchburg, 


Rail Road, 


Coiner's Sulphur, 


50 


Bonsack's, 


Stages, 


Fincastle, 


14 


Bonsack's, 


Rail Road, 


Salem, 


13 


Salem, 


Stages, 


Sweet Springs, 


45 


Bonsack's, 


Rail Road, 


Chris tiansburg, 


39 


Christiansburg,- 


Rail Road, 


Newbern, 


19 


Newbern, 


Rail Road, 


Wytheville, 


28 


Newbern, 


Stages, 


Red: Sulphur Springs, 


38 


Wytheville, 


Stage, 


Grayson's W. Sulphur, 


20 



TO THE MINERAL SPRINGS. 


xvii 


Where from. 


Coaveyances. 


To what place. 


Miles. 


Bonsack's, 


Stage, 


Sweet Springs, 


48 


Bonsack's, 


Stage, 


White Sulphur, 


63 


Washington, 


Rail Road, 


Winchester, 


144 


Winchester, 


Stages, 


Strasburg, 


17 


Baltimore, 


Rail Road, 


Washington, 


40 


Baltimore, 


Rail Road, 


Harper's Ferry, 


82 


Harper's Ferry, 


Rail Road, 


Martinsburg, 


19 


Martinsburg, 


Rail Road, 


St. John's depot, 


28 


St John's depot, 


Stage, 


Berkeley Springs, 


2J 


Harper's Ferry, 


Rail Road, 


Charleston, 


12 


Charleston, 


Rail Road, 


Winchester, 


20 


Charleston, 


Stage, 


Shenandoah Springs, 


5 


Winchester, 


R.R.&st'ge, 


Jordan's W. Sulphur, 


7* 


Winchester, 


Stage, 


Capon Springs, 


23 


Baltimore, 


Steamboat, 


Old Point, 


179 


Alexandria, 


Rail Road, 


Mt. Jackson, 


112 


Mt. Jackson, 


Stage, 


Harrisonburg, 


25 


Harrisonburg, 


Stage, 


Staunton, 


25 


Washington, 


Steamboat, 


Alexandria, 


7 


Alexandria, 


Rail Road, 


Junction, 


27 


Junction, 


Rail Road, 


Fauquier Springs, 


23 


Fredericksburg, 


Stage, 


Fauquier Springs, 


40 


Cincinnati, 


Steamers, 


G-uyandotte, 


150 


G-uyandotte, 


Stages, &c. 


Charleston, 


48 


Charleston, 


Stages, &c. 


Salines, 


5 


Charleston, 


Stages, &c. 


Great Falls, 


35 


Charleston, 


Stages, &c. 


Grauley Bridge, 


40 


Charleston, 


Stages, &c. 


Hawk's Nest, 


48 


Charleston, 


Stages, &c. 


Blue Sulphur, 


90 


Blue Sulphur, 


Stages, &c. 


Lewisburg, 


13 


Lewisburg, 


Stages, &c. 


White Sulphur, 


9 


Danville, 


Rail Road, 


Lynchburg, 


157 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

Definition of Mineral Waters; Estimation in which they were 
held by the Ancient Greeks and Romans. — Pains taken to ana- 
lyze Mineral Waters in France. — Advantages to be derived from 
Analysis of Mineral Waters. — Mineral Waters abound in the 
United States. — Want of Information both among Physicians 
and the Public in relation to Mineral Waters ; Mistakes and In- 
juries that result from want of Information. — The direct and ac- 
tive Influence of Mineral Waters. — Modus Operandi of Mineral 
Waters ; Must not always look to the immediate Effects of Mine- 
ral Waters for the production of the good they accomplish ; the 
Alterative action of Mineral Waters generally their most effi- 
cient action. — Mineral Waters not adapted to Acute Diseases ; 
they are adapted to Chronic Diseases; should be perseveringly 
used, regarding their Effects, not the time that they may have 
been used. — Mineral Waters are Stimulants; Difference with 
or without their Gases. — Similarity between Mercury and Sul- 
phur Waters. — Errors often committed in the Use of Mineral 
Waters. — The action of Mineral Waters may be modified or 
changed by different methods of using them, &c. Page 1 



CHAPTER II. 

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 



Location and General Physical Characteristics. — Its strength uni- 
formly the same. — Does not lose its strength by parting with 



XX CONTENTS. 

it's G-as. — Does not Deposit its Salts when Quiescent. — Its Gas 
Fatal to Fish. — Its Early History. — Known to the Indians as 
a "Medicine Water." — First used by the Whites in 1778. — 
Progress of Improvements and Present Condition. — Analyses 
of Mr. Hayes and Professor Rodgers. 25 



CHAPTER III. 

ON THE RELATIVE VIRTUES OF THE SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS 
OF THE WHITE SULPHUR WATER. 37 



CHAPTER IV. 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE WHITE SULPHUR WATER. 

Directions meant to be General, not Specific. — Must not gene- 
rally look to the Sensible Operations of the Water for its best 
Effects. — Moderate or Small Quantities generally preferable. — 
Usual quantities to be taken through the Day, and the best times 
for taking it. — Length of time for which it should be used. — Ne- 
cessary preparations of the System for the use of the Water. 
— Sensible Medicinal Effects of the Water. — Appropriate Ad- 
juncts often necessary. — Error in changing from one Watering 
Place to another. — Necessary Cautions as relates to Dress; 
Silk the best Security against Cold. — General Directions as to 
Diet and Exercise. -------54 



CHAPTER V. 

DISEASES TO WHICH THE WHITE SULPHUR IS APPLICABLE. 

Dyspepsia. — Gastralgia. — Water Brash. — Diseases of the Liver 
and Spleen. — Jaundice. — Chronic Irritation of the Bowels.- — 
Costiveness. — Piles. — Diseases of the Urinary Organs. — Ame- 
norrhoea, Dysmenorrhoea and Leucorrhoea. — Chronic Inflam- 



CONTENTS. XXI 

mation of the Brain. — Nervous Diseases. — Chronic Diseases of 
the Chest. — Bronchitis.— Diseases of the Skin. — Rheumatism 
and Gout. — Scrofula. — Dropsies. — Mercurial Diseases, &c. 75 



CHAPTER VI. 
Salt Sulphur Springs, 120 



CHAPTER VII. 
Red Sulphur Springs, - - - - - - 141 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Blue Sulphur Spring, - - - - - - 160 



CHAPTER IX. 

Sweet Springs, - - - -- - - - 165 



CHAPTER X. 
Red Sweet Springs, ----- - - 173 



CHAPTER XL 
| Hot Springs, --- 182 



CHAPTER XII. 

Warm Springs, - - - - - - - - 190 



XX11 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Healing Springs, ------„ 199 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Rockbridge Alum Springs, ----- 214 

CHAPTER XV. 

Bath Alum Springs, - - - - - . - 232 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Dibrell's Spring, - - 241 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Rawley's Spring, 244 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, - 246 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Jordan's White Sulphur Springs, - 250 

CHAPTER XX. 
Shannondale Spring, - - - _ 257 



CONTENTS. SX111 

-• 

CHAPTER XXL 

Berkeley Springs, - - - - - - - 259 

Orrick's Sulphur Spring, - - - - - - 267 



CHAPTER XXII. 
Capon Springs, -------- 268 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Grayson Sulphur Springs, ------ 276 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Alleghany Springs, - - - - - - - 278 



CHAPTER XXY. 

Pulaski Alum Spring, - - - - - - 280 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

New London Alum Spring, - - - - - 281 



CHAPTER XXVIL 
Huguenot Springs, - 285 



XXIV CONTENTS. 

APPENDIX. 

NATURAL CURIOSITIES OF VIRGINIA, &C. 

Harper's Ferry, 293 

Weyer's Cave, 295 

Madison's Cave, 298 

Blowing Cave, 299 

Natural Bridge, 300 

Peaks of Otter, 304 

Hawk's Nest, 309 

Ice Mountain, 311 

Caudy's Castle, 314 

Tea Table, . . 314 

Hanging Rocks, 314 

Salt Pond, 315 

Old Point Comfort, 316 



CHAPTER I 



MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL 



Early use of, &c. <§cc. — Mineral waters rank among 

ihe ancient remedies used for the cure of disease. The 
Greeks, who in knowledge of medicine were superior to 
[.he nations who had preceded them, regarded natural 
medicated waters as a special boon of the Deity, and 
piously dedicated them to Hercules, the god of strength. 
I They used thejn for drinking, and for general and tppical 
bathing. Hippocrates was acquainted with the value 
md uses of various mineral waters, and many other 
Ireek physicians, we are told, employed them for nume- 
rous diseases for which they are used at this day. 

With the Romans, mineral waters were a familiar 
remedy, not only in Italy, but in all the countries over 
which that nation obtained dominion. Mineral springs 
were eagerly sought out in the countries over which their 
conquests from time to time extended, and prompted by 
:( gratitude to the benefit which they experienced from 
iheir use, they decorated them with edifices, and each 
fount was placed under the protection of a tutelary 



2 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

deity." — {Bell?) Pliny, in his natural history, treats 
of various mineral waters and their uses ; and it is a fact 
worthy of remark, that they were highly recommended 
by various Roman physicians, in the fifth century, in the 
same diseases for which they are at this day so much em- 
ployed — particularly for nervous and rheumatic diseases, 
and for derangements of the liver, stomach and skin. 

With the modern nations of civilized Europe, mineral 
waters, both as internal and external remedies, have 
always been held in high estimation. The national reg- 
ulations that have, from time to time, been adopted to 
investigate their virtues, and their appropriate applica- 
bility, and to guard against their improper use, suffi- 
ciently manifest the importance that has been attached 
to them as remedial agents. Henry IV., we are told, 
"during his youth, had frequented the springs of the 
Pyrenees, and witnessing the abuses in the employment 
of so useful a remedy, sought to correct them after his 
ascension to the throne of France. He nominated by 
edicts and letters patent, in 1603, superintendents and 
superintendents-general, who were charged with the en- 
tire control over the use of mineral waters, baths and 
fountains of the kingdom. Most of the mineral springs 
and bathing establishments on the Continent of Europe, 
are placed under a somewhat similar superintendence, 
and a resident physician is also appointed by the govern- 
ment."— {Bell) 

Although mineral waters had been favorite remedial 
agents wifli the enlightened nations of the earth for 
many centuries, it was comparatively but recently that 






EXPERIENCE THE BEST GUIbU 3 

chemistry, by minute analysis, was able to determine 
with precision their constituent parts. 

In 1670 the mineral waters of France were first fully 
analyzed by a commission appointed by the Academy of 
Sciences at Paris; but it was not until 1766, nearly a 
hundred years afterwards, that Bayen discovered the 
means of separating salphur from sulphurous waters — 
Inor until 1774 that the celebrated Borgamann demon- 
strated the existence of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. 
Meanwhile, physicians stationed at the several watering 
places were active in observing and noting the various 
operations of the different waters on the human system, 
| and in determining, from experience, the various cases in 
which they were beneficial or injurious. 

Experience the only sure Guide in the Administration, 
&c. — After all that science can effect in determining the 
component parts of mineral waters, it is experience alone 
in their use, that can be fully relied upon as to their 
specific effects, or applicability to particular diseases. 
Chemical analysis is important mainly as a matter of 
general scientific knowledge, and may be so far practi- 
cally useful to the physician, as to enable him to form 
correct general views as relates to the nature and powers 
of the remedy ; but it is fallacious to suppose that an 
analysis, however perfect, can ever enable the physician, 
in the present state of our knowledge, and in the ab- 
sence of practical observation, to prescribe a mineral 
water with confidence or safety. An accurate knowledge 
of the component parts of mineral waters might do much, 



4 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

I admit, to prevent the incessant mistakes and mischief 
which medical men commit in sending their patients, 
u hap hazard" to drink mineral waters which are often 
unadapted to their cases ; but it never can, in the ab- 
sence of experimental knowledge, qualify them for giving 
specific and detailed directions for their use. Dr. John 
Bell, in his valuable work on " Baths and Mineral Wa- 
ters/ 9 has the following sensible and judicious passage 
upon this subject. "I wish not," he says, " to be 
ranked among the chemical physicians, who, having dis- 
covered the proportion of each foreign ingredient in the 
mineral spring, and studied its operation on the economy, 
pretend to determine the general effect of the compound. 
We may, indeed, by a knowledge of the constituent 
parts, predict to a certain extent, the medicinal power of 
the compound ; but it is only by multiplied facts, that is, 
experience of its use, thai we can speak positively of 
its virtues." 

In no other country, perhaps, do mineral waters 
abound in greater variety than in the United States, 
and it is a subject of sincere regret, that their nature, 
applicability, and proper method of administration, should 
have been so little studied, both by physicians and the 
public at large. It is true that certain opinions gene- 
rally prevail in enlightened circles, as regards the cura- 
tive powers of some of our more celebrated fountains; 
and these opinions, so far as they go, being generally 
founded on experience, may, in the main, be tolerably 
correct. Nevertheless, there is a lamentable want of in- 
formation generally, and even among our more enlight- 



EXPERIENCE THE BEST GUIDE. 5 

ened physicianSj as to the specific nature and adaptation 
of our mineral waters to particular diseases — informa- 
tion, the want of which must always disqualify for the 
safe and confident recommendation of these valuable 
agents. 

A perfect knowledge of the various influences, and of 
the peculiar minute circumstances that control the use of 
mineral waters in different systems/ as well as the best 
methods of using them in certain pathological conditions 
of the system, must, as with all other medicines, be 
learned from observation. Now, as physicians but rarely 
have an opportunity of observing the use of mineral wa- 
ters for a sufficient length of time and in a sufficient va- 
riety of cases, and as but little has been written by those 
who have observed their effects, it ought not to be sup- 
posed that the medical public generally would be greatly 
enlightened on this subject. 

I have said that the opinions generally prevailing in 
enlightened circles relative to the curative powers of our 
principal mineral fountains, being founded on experience, 
may, in the main, be correct. I would not be under- 
stood, however, as advising a reliance upon such " popu- 
lar fame." Information of this kind is sufficient to 
awaken attention and incite inquiry, but certainly should 
not be implicitly relied upon in individual cases. At 
best, it is generally " hearsay i% opinion, made up, ordi- 
narily, from partial and empirical sources ; or, quite as 
likely, from the prejudiced accounts which are brought 
by visiters from the different watering places, and which 
are sweepingly favorable, or prejudicial, as they may 



6 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

chance to have been benefitted or worsted, and that with- 
out reference to the specific action of the agent, or that 
clear understanding of the pathology of the case, which 
would serve as a safe guide in its application to others. 
Every physician knows how prone persons are to err in 
the use of medicines, from the supposed resemblance of 
cases. Often am I pained to see persons persevering in 
the use of a mineral water to their evident prejudice, and 
for no better reason than that Mr. or Mrs. Such-a-one 
was cured of a disease supposed to be similar ; or, by 
the general recommendation of some medical man who 
sent them to the "mountains" with a "carte blanche," 
to use "some of the mineral waters" Occasionally it 
has become my painful duty to advise patients to re- 
trace their melancholy steps homeward, without using 
any of the waters, because none were adapted to their 
case. 

Mineral waters are not a panacea; they act like all 
other medicines by producing certain effects upon the ani- 
mal economy, and upon principles capable of being clearly 
defined. It follows, that there are various diseases and 
states of the system to which they are not only not 
adapted, but in which they would be eminently injurious. 

Some years since, T was requested to visit a highly re- 
spectable gentleman, who had just arrived at the White 
Sulphur with his family, from one of our distant cities. 
He was in wretched health, and sought my advice as 
to the applicability of the water to his case. On exam- 
ination, I felt astonished that any medical man of intelli- 
gence should have recommended such a case to mineral 



MEDICAL EFFICACY. 7 

waters for relief. I advised the gentleman to retrace his 
steps homeward, and put himself under medical treat- 
ment, as he had no time to lose. Accordingly, the ensu- 
ing morning, he recommenced his journey of seven hun- 
dred miles to reach his home. Medicine did for him 
what mineral waters were not calculated to do, and I 
have since heard of his entire recovery. This gentleman 
informed me that he had been influenced to undertake 
the distant, and, to him, painful journey, by a physician 
who had never before prescribed for his case, and who 
candidly stated to him that he knew but little of the 
mineral waters of Virginia ; but he had heard of many 
cures from their use, and therefore advised that he should 
hasten to give them a trial. Influenced by this medical 
opinion, the unfortunate invalid had dragged himself and 
his family seven hundred miles, under the vain hope of 
finding a remedy, which the physician should, in such a 
case, have found in his own office. Now a little more 
knowledge of the nature of our mineral waters, and a 
more commendable caution in advising their use, would 
have prevented the heavy sacrifice this gentleman in- 
curred. Nor is this by any means an isolated instance ; 
my case-book furnishes me with many others equally 
strong, that have come under my observation within the 
last few years. 

Medical Efficacy., &c, — Mineral waters are exceed- 
ingly valuable as medicinal agents, are applicable to a 
large circle of cases, and will, unquestionably, cure 
many which the ordinary remedies of the shops will not. 



8 mineral Waters in general. 

Nevertheless, it should always be borne in mind that 
they are not a caiholicon ; that they are not to be used 
for every disease; and that, to be prescribed success- 
fully, they must, like all other medicines, be prescribed 
with reference to the nature and pathology of the case. 
Nor is this caution ordinarily more necessary in using 
the various medicines of the shops than in using our 
more potent mineral waters. 

Some there are, I know, who profess to be unbelievei - 
in the medicinal activity of mineral waters, and who, 
without denying the benefit that is often derived from 
visiting such fountains, attribute the whole to travel, 
change of air, exercise, relaxation from business, &c. &c. 
Now, I freely admit that these are often important 
agents in the cure of a large class of cases ; but from 
long experience at a popular watering place, and the nu- 
merous cures I have seen effected from the water itself, 
totally disconnected with any of the adjuncts alluded to, 
it would be quite as easy to convince me that bark is not 
tonic, that jalap does not purge, or that mercury will 
not salivate, as that mineral waters may not be an active 
and potent means of curing disease, entirely indepen- 
dent of the valuable adjuvants that have been alluded to. 

The advocates of the non-efficacy of mineral waters 
jper se, would scarcely persist in this opinion, after seeing 
the large amount of active medical material obtained by 
evaporation from some of our more active waters; the 
white sulphur, for instance, which yields more than 150 
grains to the gallon, and which, upon analysis, is found 
to consist of iodine, sulphur, the. various combinations 



MEDICAL EFFICACY. 9 

of soda, magnesia, and other active ingredients. Would 
it not be absurd to believe, that so large an amount of 
these efficient medical substances, as is usually taken 
into the stomach by those who drink mineral waters in 
which they abound, could fail to exert a positive influ- 
ence upon the economy ? My own experience for many 
years, in the use of such waters, enables me to bear 
the most unequivocal testimony, as to the direct and 
positive influence of many of them upon the human 
body. In the language of the celebrated Patissier, I 
can unhesitatingly say, that, "in the general, mineral 
waters revive the languishing circulation, give a new 
direction to the vital energies, re-establish the perspira- 
tory action of the skin, bring back to their physiological 
type the vitiated or suppressed secretions, provoke salu- 
tary evacuations, either by urine, or stool, or by tran- 
spiration ; they bring about in the animal economy an 
intimate transmutation — a profound change; they satu- 
rate the sick body. How many sick persons, abandoned 
by their physicians, have found health at mineral springs ? 
How many individuals, exhausted by violent disease, 
have recovered, by a journey to mineral waters, their 
tone, mobility and energy, to restore which, attempts in 
other ways might have been made with less certitude of 
success." And hence, most cordially do I adopt the 
sentiments of the distinguished Dr. Armstrong, who, in 
speaking of the medicinal efficacy of mineral waters, 
says, U I dare pledge my word, that, if they he only 
fully and fairly tried, they will be found amongst the 



10 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

most powerful agents which have ever been brought to 
the relief of human maladies." 

Modus Operandi, &c. — Various attempts have been 
made to account for the peculiar effects of mineral wa- 
ters upon the system. They seem to act, in the first 
place, as a simple hygienic agent. Secondly, they act, 
in accordance with their constituent ingredients, spe- 
cifically on the animal economy. Mineral waters exert 
their more important influences upon the human body 
upon a different principle from many of the articles of 
the materia medica ; they are evidently absorbed, enter 
into the circulation, and change the consistence, as well 
as the composition of the fluids; they course through 
the system, and apply the medical materials which they 
hold in solution, in the most minute form of subdivision 
that can be conceived of, to the diseased surfaces and 
tissues; they reach and search the most minute ramifi- 
cations of the capillaries, and remove the morbid con- 
dition of those vessels, which are so commonly the pri- 
mary seats of disease. It is thus that they relieve 
chronic disordered action, and impart natural energy and 
elasticity to vessels that have been distended either by 
inflammation or congestion — while they communicate an 
energy to the muscular fibre and to the animal tissues 
generally, which is not witnessed from the administra- 
tion of ordinary remedies. 

Many of the articles of the materia medica seem to 
act by sympathy and counter-irritation, and to cure one 
organ of the body by irritating another; thus calomel, 
by irritating the stomach and duodenum, is made to 



MODUS OPERANDI. 11 

act efficiently upon the liver, to which organ it. has a 
strong specific tendency. Not so, however, with mineral 
waters ; they never cure one organ by irritating another. 
I can with confidence assert, that I have never seen 
mineral waters successfully used in any case in which 
they kept up a considerable irritation upon any of the 
organs of the body. 

Both physicians and patients are quite too much in 
the habit of looking to the immediate and sensible ope- 
rations of mineral waters, and of judging of their effi- 
cacy from such effects. In most cases, it is serviceable 
for such agents to open the bowels gently ; and in some, 
it is best for them to purge actively. Occasionally, ad- 
vantage is derived from promoting an increased flow of 
urine or perspiration ; but, as a general rule, the greatest 
good is derived from the absorption of the water, result- 
ing in that " profound change" spoken of by Patissier, 
or, in other words, the alterative action of the remedy. 
It should always be borne in mind that this profound 
change — this alterative effect — is incompatible with con- 
stant or active action of the water upon any of the 
emunctories. This, unquestionably, is true as relates to 
the White Sulphur Water, with which I am most fa- 
miliar, and I believe it to be so with all alterative 
waters. 

So well convinced am I, that the alterative action 
is the real curative action effected by sulphur waters, 
in nine cases out of ten where any serious disease exists, 
that, ordinarily, I am not solicitous to obtain much 
daily increase of evacuation from any of the emunctories. 



12 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. _ 

On the contrary, I often find great advantage from the 
administration of some appropriate means to prevent the 
too free action of the water, especially on the bowels 
and kidneys. As a, general rule, it is far better that 
such waters should lie quietly upon the system, without 
manifesting much excitement Upon any of the organs, 
and producing, at most, but a small increase in the 
quantity of the ordinary healthy evacuations. 

The quality or kind of evacuations produced by min- 
eral waters, is a matter of far more importance, and 
when strong sulphur waters are used, never fail to evi- 
dence the existence and the extent to which alterative 
action is going on in the system, and to this, persons 
using such waters should always pay a careful attention. 

I have said that the best effects of mineral waters are 
their alterative or changing effects; and that in the 
administration of the White Sulphur Water, I do not, 
ordinarily, desire to provoke much increase of the natu- 
ural evacuations. I do not wish, however, to be under- 
stood by this general declaration, as laying down an 
absolute rule of practice to govern all cases. The ad- 
ministration of this water, like the administration of 
every other active remedy, should ibe governed in refer- 
ence to the particular character and demands of each 
case ; and in such discriminating practice, it will some- 
times be found best to use it in a manner to produce ac- 
tive operations for a short time. I have, indeed, gene- 
rally found, that those who are actively purged by mine- 
ral waters, if they have strength to bear it, will be best 
satisfied with the remedy at the time, and, in fact, are 



HOW LONG TO BE USED. 13 

apt to feel better at the time, than those upon whom 
the water is exerting but little or no purgative effect. 
It may be laid down as a general fact, in the use of 
the White Sulphur Water, subject to but few excep- 
tions, that those on whose bowels it acts freely, will 
feel best while at the Springs; while those who are 
but little purged, will feel best after they have left the 
Springs, and will, ordinarily, enjoy the most permanent 
advantage. The reason of this is obvious ; in the first 
case, the active purgation throws off the gross humors 
of the body, and the patient feels promptly relieved; in 
the other case, the remedy lies upon the system, is ab- 
sorbed, and gradually produces its changing influences — 
bringing the various secretory functions into a healthy 
condition — unloading and cleansing the machinery of the 
economy — silently putting its works to rights, and giving 
them their natural and healthy motion. All this re- 
quires time for its accomplishment; and hence, we often 
hear persons say, "I was no better while at the Springs, 
but I began to mend soon after I left, and have continued 
better since. " Declarations of this kind I hear every 
day by persons who have previously visited the Springs ; 
! and they verify the correctness of my proposition. 

Length of Time to be used, &c. — To acute diseases, 
mineral waters are not adapted ; for all such they are 
too exciting, too prone to increase the activity of the 
circulation, and to stimulate the general system. It is 
in chronic diseases only that they are found so emi- 
nently serviceable. By chronic diseases I mean those 



14 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

slew diseases of the system, uniformly attended either 
with simple excitement, chronic inflammation, or chronic 
congestion of the blood-vessels. To be permanently ben- 
eficial in diseases of this description, the use of mineral 
waters, like the disease for which they arc taken, should 
be " chronic." I mean an instantaneous cure should not 
be expected; but that the remedy should be persisted in, 
and the cure gradually brought aboiit. Sulphur wa- 
ters may be easily brought into disrepute by short and 
imperfect trials of them. To prove effectual, "they | 
should for the most part be continued daily, in sufficient 
quantity, until the disease gives way, or until their ineffi- 
cacy has been fairly proved by an unremitted persever- 
ance. In some cases of opthalmia, of rheumatism, and 
slight cutaneous affections, I have known them to effect 
a cure in two or three weeks, while in other cases, appa- 
rently similar in all respects, twice, thrice, or even four 
times that period has elapsed before the cure had been 
accomplished ; and what is here affirmed of these exter- 
nal affections, is still more strongly applicable to inter- 
nal diseases, which are seldom speedily overcome by 
these waters, how completely soever they may yield at 
last. In illustration of this point, as to internal dis- 
eases, it may be mentioned that I have seen both chro- 
nic inflammation of the liver, arid chronic inflammation 
of the rectum, where no benefit was produced for three 
or four weeks, and yet a continuation of the waters for - 
six or eight weeks longer has effaced every vestige of the 
morbid indications for which they were prescribed." — 
{Armstrong on Sulphur Waters.) 



HOW LONG TO BE USED. 15 

There is no greater folly in the use of mineral waters, 
,han that of laying down a definite period of time for 
vhich they slioidd be used, without reference to their ef- 
ects upon the system. Like all other medicines, min- 
eral waters should be used, discontinued, or modified in 
,heir use, with a strict regard to their operations upon 
,he body, and to their good or bad effects upon the dis- 
ease. Whenever prescribed, their operations should be 
matched with the same care with which we watch the 
effects of any other medicine \ and they should be per- 
severed in, or temporarily, or permanently discontinued, 
)r controlled in their action by some appropriate ad- 
uvant, according to the indications presented in each 
3ase. 

It will occur to every reflecting mind, that the expec- 
tation of being cured, or even essentially benefitted, in 
in obstinate chronic disease, from a few days' use of any 
nineral water, is altogether unreasonable. Nevertheless, 
[ have often seen persons at watering places despairing 
pf the efficacy of the water, simply because it had not 
i produced an obvious and appreciable benefit in five or six 
;lays. A sort of stereotyped opinion indeed prevails 
j.vith numerous visiters to such places, that the water 
i should not in any case be used longer than two weeks. 
[ scarcely need say that this is a most erroneous opinion, 
tnd often interposes between the patient and his re- 
covery; instances of which I almost daily see at the 
White Sulphur. It is true, that some, who hold the un- 
warrantable opinion alluded to, perseveringly endeavor 
to drink as much in the "two weeks/' as they should do 



16 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

in six, but this only serves in a common way, to make 
them abandon it four or five days before their prescribed 
time, by absolutely disqualifying the system for its re- 
ception at all. 

I can say, as the result of many years' observation, 
that the White Sulphur, which is one of the strongest 
sulphur waters in the world, rarely produces its full al- 
terative effects within two weeks, under its most judi- 
cious administration, and under favorable circumstances 
for its use; and that three, four, five and even eight 
weeks often elapse before it has displayed its full reme- 
dial powers in obstinate cases. 

General Remarks on the Administration, &c. &c. — 
Mineral waters are all stimulants in a greater or less de- 
gree, and some have attributed much of their virtue to 
this property. Such an opinion, however, is clearly er- 
roneous. I have already remarked that such waters are 
rarely serviceable when they keep up any considerable 
irritation of an organ. I now remark that any consid- 
erable excitement of the general organism is equally 
prejudicial : indeed I have often been embarrassed, and 
sometimes thwarted in the successful use of mineral wa- 
ters, from the prevalence of this quality. The amount 
of excitement resulting from the use of such waters, de- 
pends upon the nature of their constituent principles; 
upon the quantity taken, the manner of taking it, and 
the excitability of each individual's constitution. If it 
be a water abounding in sulphuretted hydrogen gas, the 
most essential difference exists in taking it with or with- 



i 



THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 17 

out its gas ; that is, in taking it fresh at the spring, or 
after its gas has flown off. In the use of the White Sul- 
phur Water, with or without its gas, the most marked 
'difference exists in its stimulating quality. In relation 
to this particular water, it is greatly advantageous in 
many cases, particularly in yery excitable persons, to 
have the gas expelled in part, or in whole, before 
using it. 

Some mineral waters, by varying the method of their 
administration, or, by the interposition of appropriate 
adjuvants, are capable of extensive and valuable modified 
actions and effects upon the human body. The White 
Sulphur is susceptible of as many varied, different, and 
modified actions upon the system generally, and upon 
its particular organs, by varying the methods of using 
it, as is mercury, or antimony, or any of our leading 
therapeutical agents. For instance, it can be so used as 
to stimulate distressingly — or, without any appreciable 
stimulating effect. It can be so given as almost in va- 
riably to purge actively; or, without lessening the 
: quantity producing such effect, but merely by changing 
the time and manner of taking it, it can be so given as 
] to exert little or no cathartic operation. It may be di- 
rected to, or restrained from the kidneys, or skin; and 
what, in a general way, is far more important, it can be 
so used as to lie quietly on the system, producing no ex- 
eessive action upon any of the organs, and, with a cjuiet 
ibut sure progress, go on breaking up the obstructions in 
the glandular organs and removing the impediments to 
the proper discharge of their functions: equalizing the 



18 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

circulation, removing chronic inflammations, and gener- 
ally restoring the energies of the system. 

Between the action of mercury, and the more power- 
ful of the sulphur waters on the organic system, the 
most striking similarity exists. Dr. Armstrong long- 
since remarked the resemblance between mercury and 
the sulphur waters of Europe, and confidently expressed 
the opinion that the latter are equally powerful as the 
former, in their action upon the secretory organs ; and 
with this very important difference, that while the long- 
continued use of mercury in chronic disease generally 
breaks up the strength, that of the sulphur waters gen- 
erally renovates the whole system. Mercury has here- 
tofore, by common consent, been regarded as the most 
powerful alterative we possess. I am not prepared to 
dispute this high claim of the medicine, but this much 
I will assert, as a matter of professional expeiience, that 
sulphur water, in my hands, has proved an alterative 
quite as certain in its effects as mercury, though some- 
what slower in its operations. Not only so, I believe it 
to be far better adapted than mercury to a large circle of 
cases in which glandular obstructions and chronic inflam- I 
mations are to be subdued. If the claims of the two 
remedies for preference were otherwise nearly equal, the 
great advantage on the score of safety from the sulphur 
water would give it an immense preference over its rival. 
Numerous cases present themselves, however, in which 
they are used in conjunction to great advantage. Where 
this becomes necessary, however, I have, as a general 
rule of practice, found it best not to continue the mer- 



THEIR ADMINISTRATION. • 19 

ury longer than six or eight days ; nor is it often neces- 
ary to use it continually during that period. 

The effects of the White Sulphur Water upon the 
iunian body resemble mercury in several respects. Not 
o mention others, its resemblance is strikingly manifest 
rom the fact of its producing salivation under certain 
jeculiar circumstances. Another marked similarity may 
»e mentioned, especially as it has a direct bearing upon 
he proper method of its administration : I allude to the 
xistence of a phlogistic diathesis in individuals with 
-rhom either remedy is used. " When the system resists 
he specific action of mercury, it is a certain test that 
.he inflammatory diathesis prevails to a considerable ex- 
isnt, and this is the cause of the resistance ; for lessen 
lie inflammatory diathesis by proper evacuations, and 
;be specific action of the mercury will be readily in- 
duced." The system often offers the same resistance to 
de successful use of this water, which is evidently occa- 
• ioned by the excess of the inflammatory diathesis, inas- 
much as when the inflammatory dispositionals abated by 
tie lancet, purgatives, &c, the water promptly produces 
$ wonted good effects. In the administration of the 
Vhite Sulphur Water it is of the utmost consequence 
o keep this practical fact constantly in view, and by 
roper treatment to keep down both general and local 
Incitement. 

1 " Notwithstanding mineral waters are so well adapted 

» the cure of chronic diseases, it should not be expected 

iaat they will be uniformly successful; for it must be 

3membered that such diseases are only remediable when 



20 MINERAL WxlTERS IN GENERAL. 

unconnected with alterations of organic tissue, which is 
their ultimate and mortal product. Nor is it reasonable 
to expect that any plan of treatment will succeed in all 
cases of chronic disease unconnected with alteration of 
tissue ; and I have accordingly found the methods recom- 
mended at times ineffectual, even when they were tried 
under circumstances which simply indicated disorder of 
the function, without any concomitant sign of disorgan- 
ization." 

JEh'rors, and Abase of Mineral Waters, &c. (Sec. — I 
have before alluded to some of the abuses of mineral 
waters by those who resort to them for relief: this 
subject, I conceive, ^may be still further pursued with 
profit to my readers. To one familiar with the many 
errors and mistakes committed in the use of mineral 
waters in this country, it is not wonderful that numbers 
return from visiting our most celebrated watering places, 
without having received any essential benefit ; it is rather 
a matter of surprise that so large an amount of good is 
achieved. The precautions in the use of such waters, 
deemed indispensable in France, Germany and England, 
are greatly neglected here. There, the advice of a com- 
petent physician who is well acquainted with the nature 
and peculiarities of the water, is thought so important, 
that persons rarely enter upon their use without such 
advice, and at some places are actually not 'permitted to 
do so. If similar precautions were more commonly 
adopted by visiters at our various watering places, a far 
larger amount of good would be achieved to the afflicted, 



ERRORS AND ABUSE. 21 

much injury prevented, and the character of the several 
waters better established and preserved. It is a subject 
of daily and painful observation at all our principal 
watering places, to witness numerous individuals using 
mineral waters that are not adapted to their cases; and 
still more common is it to see those, to whose cases they 
are adapted, using them so improperly as entirely to 
prevent the good they would accomplish under a proper 
administration. Professor Mutter, of Philadelphia, makes 
the following judicious remarks when speaking of the 
use and abuse of mineral waters in this country : "Like 
every other remedy of any efficacy, mineral waters are 
liable to abuse, and it is really astonishing that such 
glaring errors should be daily committed, not only by 
the patients, but often by the physicians who recommend 
their employment. It is by no means an uncommon 
occurrence (and those who have visited the springs of 
our country, will bear me out in the statement I am 
about to make,) for an individual to arrive, furnished 
with a 'carte blanche/ from a physician who has proba- 
bly little or no knowledge of the active properties of the 
agent he recommends, to use the water as he may see fit, 
or with merely a charge to i use it tvith caution/ 
Others are sent without any direction whatever, in the 
hope that the water may suit their condition, and come 
trusting in Providence alone. Others, again, arrive with 
written instructions, to drink so many glasses of the 
water per diem, whether it agrees with them or not. 
Many patients do not take the advice of a physician at 
all, but relying on the representations of those who have 



22 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

i 

derived benefit, imagine that they, too, will be cured, 
although in all probability, from the nature of their dis- 
ease, the water may be the most prejudicial to which 
they could resort. - Used in this careless and dangerous 
manner, is it to be wondered at, that so many individuals 
leave the springs, either not at all benefitted, or in a 
worse condition than when they arrived? The regula- 
tions which are thought necessary, and which are adopted 
in most European countries, especially France and Ger- 
many, during the use of a mineral water, are either 
unknown or neglected in this. There, nearly every 
spring is supplied with an experienced physician ; one 
familiar with the character of the water, whose duty it is 
to take charge of the sick as they arrive ; here, with but 
one or two exceptions, those who frequent our watering 
places have to rely on chance for medical aid. Is this 
as it should be V 9 

A vague impression seems to pervade the public mind, 
that mineral waters, as medicinal agents, are totally un- 
like all other medicines, and that in their administration 
there is no necessity for observing any cautions or for 
adopting extraneous expedients to procure the best effects 
of the agent employed. This is an error as injurious as 
it is common, and ought to be corrected in the public 
mind. Our more potent mineral waters ought indeed to 
be regularly incorporated into our materia medica, their 
several qualities properly defined, and the medical mind 
thus instructed to regard them not only as valuable ther- 
apeutical agents, per se, but as agents capable of exten- 
sive and valuable modifications in their application to dis- 



ERRORS AND ABUSE. 23 

ease. A pathological practice should be established in 
relation to them, not less strict than in relation to the 
ordinary remedies of the shops, and the best means of 
influencing their sanative operations on the system 
understood. 

The physician who desires to throw his patient under 
the alterative influence of mercury, is not so discouraged 
as to abandon the remedy, if it chance at first to run off 
by the bowels, and thus thwart his object; but either by 
changing the method of using his medicine, or by uniting 
with it some soothing astringent, he ultimately effects the 
important object in view. Neither should the physician 
be discouraged in the use of a mineral water because it 
occasionally manifests a vagrant and improper effect ; for 
facilities can be commanded to control its operations as 
readily as we can control the improper operations of mer- 
cury. Such facilities may generally be found, either in 
an increase or diminution of the quantity taken — an 
alteration of the periods at which it has been taken — or, 
in the manner of using it (where gases prevail,) in rela- 
tion to its gaseous or ungaseous form. Occasionally, 
medical adjuvants are found necessary, and then I have 
been in the habit of using those most simple, and which 
least derange the animal economy. 

As a general rule, I have found mineral waters most 
serviceable in those cases in which the stomach and 
general system tolerated them readily; yet such tole- 
ration depends so much upon the proper preparation of 
the system, and the manner of using the water, that the 
patient should by no means infer that it is unsuited to 



24 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 

his case, simply because it has manifested some improper 
operation in the commencement. For, as before inti- 
mated, it will often happen, that by changing the method 
of using the water, or by the administration of some ap- 
propriate adjuvant, the difficulty will all be removed, and 
the agent afterwards act most pleasantly and profitably 
upon the system. 




\ ■ ¥ ' 



CHAPTER II 



WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 



The White Sulphur Springs are located in the county 
of Greenbrier, Virginia, on Howard's Creek, and on 
the immediate confines of the " Great Western Valley," 
being but six miles west of the Alleghany chain of 
mountains which separates the waters which flow into 
the Chesapeake Bay, from those which run into the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

The waters of the spring find their way into Howard's 
Creek, two hundred yards from their source, which, 
after flowing five miles, empties into Greenbrier River! 

The spring is situated on an elevated and beautifully pic- 
turesque valley, hemmed in by mountains on every side. 
Kate's Mountain, celebrated as the theatre of the ex- 
ploits of a chivalrous heroine in the days of Indian 
troubles, is in full view, and about two miles to the 
south; to the west, and distant from one to two miles, 
ure the Greenbrier Mountains; while the towering Alle- 
ihany in all its grandeur is found six miles to the north 
jtnd east. 

This spring is in the midst of the celebrated "spring 
egion," having the "Hot Spring" thirty-five miles to 



26 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

the north, — the " Sweet," seventeen miles to the east, — 
the "Salt" and "Red," the one twenty-four, the other 
forty-one, miles to the south — and the "Blue," twenty- 
two miles to the west. Its latitude is about 37 i° north, 
and 3J° west longitude from Washington. Its eleva- 
tion above tide-water is two thousand feet. It bursts 
with unusual boldness from rock-lined apertures, and is 
enclosed by marble casements five feet square and three 
and a half feet deep. Its temperature is 62° of Fahren- 
heit, and remains uniformly the same during the win- 
ter's blasts and the summer's heat ; any apparent varia- 
tion from this temperature, will be found, I think, to 
have been occasioned by the difference in thermometers, 
as repeated trials with the tame instrument prove the 
temperature to be uniform. 

The principal spring yields about thirty gallons per 
minute ; and, it is a remarkable fact, that this quantity 
is not perceptibly increased of diminished during the 
longest spells of wet or dry weather; while other bold 
springs of the country have failed during the long 
droughts of summer, this has invariably observed " the 
even tenor of its way." There is no discoloration of the 
water during long wet spells, or other evidences that it Jf 
becomes blended with common water percolating through j 
the earth. The quantity and temperature of this spring 
being uniform under all circumstances, gives a confi- 
dence, which experience in its use has verified, of its 
uniform strength and efficiency. The water is most 
clear and transparent, and deposits copiously, as it flows 
over a rough and uneven surface, a white, and some- 



PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 27 

times, under peculiar circumstances, a red and black 
precipitate, composed in part of its saline ingredients. 
Its taste and smell, fresh at the spring, are that of all 
waters strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen 
gas. When removed from the spring, and kept in an 
open vessel for a sufficient length of time for this gas to 
escape, or, when it has been heated or frozen for this 
purpose, it becomes essentially tasteless, and inodorous, 
and could scarcely be distinguished, either by smell or 
taste, from common limestone water. Its cathartic ac- 
tivity, however, is rather increased than diminished 
when thus insipid and inodorous.* It does not lose its 
transparency by parting with its gas, as many other wa- 
ters do ) nor does it deposit its salts in the slightest de- 
gree when quiescent — not even sufficiently to stain a 
glass vessel in which it may be kept. 

The gas of this spring is speedily fatal to all animals, 
when immersed even for a very short time in its waters. 
Small fish thus circumstanced survive but a few mo- 
ments, first manifesting entire derangement, with great 
distress, and uniformly die in less than three minutes. 

The springs are surrounded with mountain scenery of 
great beauty, and blessed with a most delightful climate 
in summer and fall. Independent of the benefit that may 
be derived from the waters, a better situation for the 
invalid during the summer months can scarcely be im- 
; agined. They have the advantage of a salubrious and 



See Chapter III. — Oa " The relative virtues of the saline and 
gaseous contents of the White sulphur water." 



28 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

invigorating air, an agreeable temperature, cool at morn- 
ing and evening, the thermometer ranging at those pe- 
riods during the summer, between 50° and 60°, and 
rarely attaining a greater height than 80° at any time 
of the day, and an elasticity in the atmosphere that 
prevents the heat from being at any time oppressive, and 
enables the invalid to take exercise in the open air du- 
ring the day without fatigue. 

There is but little in the early history of this cele- 
brated watering place especially worthy of preservation. 

Tradition says that the charming valley in which it 
is situated, was once a favorite " hunting ground" of 
the proud Shawanees, who then owned and occupied this 
fair region, and the numerous ancient graves and rude 
implements of the chase that are found in various parts 
of the valley, sufficiently attest the truth of this legend. 
That a small marsh, originally contiguous to the spring, 
was once a favourite deer and buffalo "lick" is well 
known to the oldest white settlers in the country ; and 
it is confidently asserted by some of that venerable class, 
that the spring was known to the Indians as a "medi- 
cine water, " and that since their migration across the 
Ohio, they have occasionally been known to visit it for 
the relief of rheumatic affections. Whether this legend 
be truth or fiction, I cannot avouch; authentic history, 
however, abundantly testifies to the reluctance with 
which its ancient owners abandoned this lovely valley, 
to the rapacious avarice of the invading white man. 

During the year 1774, the proud, but ill-fated 
Shawanees, being overpowered by the encroaching colo- 



EARLY HISTORY. 29 

nists from Eastern Virginia, and haying sustained, in 
October of that year, a signal defeat by the colonial 
troops, at Point Pleasant, were forced finally to abandon 
their country, and seek shelter and protection with the 
main body of their tribe, then living on the waters of the 
great Sciota; not, however, until by frequent battles and 
midnight murders, they had testified their attachment to 
their ancient hunting grounds and the graves of their 
fathers. 

The property on which this spring is situated, was 
originally patented to Carpenter, one of the ear- 
liest pioneers of the country, and who was subsequently 
killed by a band of marauding Indians, at the fort at 
the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, near where the town of 
Covington now stands. It is rather a remarkable fact, 
in a country like this, in which land is so prone to 
change owners, that this, as a whole, has never been 
bought or sold, the present proprietor owning it by right 
of descent from the original patentee. 

The precise time at which this spring, now so cele- 
brated among mineral waters, was first used for the cure 
of disease, cannot be ascertained with absolute certainty. 
| It is believed, however, that a Mrs. Anderson, the wife 
of one of the oldest settlers, was the first white person 
who tested its virtues as a medicine. 

In 1778, this lady being grievously afflicted with rheu- 
matism, was borne on a litter, from her residence, ten or 
fifteen miles, to the spring, where a tent was spread for 
her protection from the weather ; and a " bathing tub/' 
provided by felling and excavating a huge tree that grew 



$3 WHITE StlMHtFE SPRINGS, 

hard by. Here she remained until she had entirely re- 
covered, drinking the water from the fountain, and bath- 
ing in the sulphur water previously heated in the trough 
by " hot rocks." It is reasonable to suppose that the 
fame of this cure spread abroad among the u settlers/' 
and from them into Eastern Virginia, and among the few 
" spring-going folks" who then annually visited the Sweet 
Springs, not many miles distant. Accordingly, in 1779, 
and from that to 1783, there were annually a few visiters 
here, who spread their tents near the spring, no house 
having then been erected, and with the rude " trough" 
for a bathing tub, and this protection from the weather, 
are reported to have spent their time most agreeably and 
profitably. Some of these primitive visiters, "who dwelt 
in tents," have visited the springs of late years, and with 
pleasurable emotions marked out the spot where their 
tents stood some sixty years ago, while they recounted 
with delight the amusements and pleasures they then 
enjoyed. 

In 1784-5 and '6, numerous "log cabins" were erected, 
not where any of the present buildings stand, but imme- 
diately around the spring, not one of which, or the ma- 
terials which composed it, is now remaining. 

The present proprietor of this property came into pos- 
session of it in the year 1808, but did not personally 
undertake its improvement until the summer of 1818. 
Before this period, the buildings for the accommodation 
of visiters, although sufficient for^ the number that then 
resorted to the place, were exceedingly rude, being alto- 
gether small wooden huts. The interest and enterprise 



ANALYSIS. 31 

of the proprietor soon led him into a different and more 
appropriate system of improvement, and from small be- 
ginnings, he has gone on, progressing in the rapid ratio 
of demand, until from the "tent" accommodations in 
1779, and the "log cabins" in 1784, the place now, both 
in elegance and extent, exhibits the appearance of a neat 
and flourishing village, affording comfortable and conve- 
nient accommodations, (including the surrounding hotels,) 
for from twelve to fifteen hundred persons. 



ANALYSIS. 

In the winter of 1812, Mr. Augustus A. Hayes, of 
Massachusetts, made an analysis of the White sulphur 
water, at his laboratory, in Roxbury, from a few bottles 
of water forwarded to him from the spring the preceding 
fall. The following is a communication received from 
him on that subject : 

" This water is colorless and transparent ; when agi- 
tated it sparkles from the disengagement of air bubbles. 
Taste hepatic, resembling that of a solution of hydro- 
sulphuric acid in water. Exposed to the atmosphere, 
the hepatic odor is succeeded by a slight earthy odor. 
It blackens metals and salts of lead. Compared with 
pure water, free from air, its specific gravity is 1.00254. 

"50.000 grains (about 7 pints) of this water contain, 
in solution, 3.633 water grain measures of gaseous mat- 
ter, or about 1-14 of its volume, consisting of — 



32 WHITE SULPHtFR SPRINGS. 

Nitrogen gas - - - - 1.013 

Oxygen gas - - - - .108 

Carbonic acid - 2.444 

Hydro-sulphuric acid - .68 



3.633 

u One gallon, or 237 cubic inches of the water con- 
tain 16 739-1000 cubic inches of gas, having the propor- 
tion of — 

Nitrogen gas - 4.680 

Oxygen gas - - - .498 

Carbonic acid, - - - - 11.290 

Hydro-sulphuric acid, - - - .271 



16.739 

50.000 grains of this water, contain 115 735-1000 grains 
of saline matter, consisting of — 

Sulphate of lime - - - 67.168 

Sulphate of magnesia - 30.364 

Chloride of magnesium - - - .859 

Carbonate of lime - - - 6.060 

Organic matter (dried at 212° F.) - 3.740 

Carbonic acid - - - - 4.584 
Silicates (silica 1.34, potash .18, 
soda .66 , magnesia and a trace 

oxyd. iron) - - - - 2.960 



115.735 



i 



ANALYSIS. 33 

"Unlike saline sulphuretted waters generally, this 
water contains a minute proportion of chlorine only, the 
sulphates of lime and magnesia forming nearly ten- 
elevenths of the saline matter. 

" The alkaline bases are also in very small proportion, 
and seem to be united to the silicious earths, in combi- 
nation with a peculiar organic matter. The organic 
matter, in its physical and chemical character, resembles 
that found in the water of the Red Sulphur Springs, and 
differs essentially from the organic matter of some ther- 
mal waters. 

" In ascertaining its weight, it was rendered dry at the 
temperature of 212° F. When dry, it is a grayish- 
white, translucent solid. When recently separated from 
a fluid containing it, it appears as a thin jelly or muci- 
lage, and gives to a large bulk of fluid a mucous-like 
appearance, with the property of frothing by agitation. 
It unites with metallic oxydes and forms compounds both 
soluble and insoluble. In most cases an excess of base 
renders the compound insoluble. The compound with 
oxyde of silver, is soluble in water; with baryta and 
lime it does not form a precipitate, while magnesia forms 
with it a hydrous white, gelatinous mass. In acids it 
dissolves, the oxy-acids do not change its composition, 
while they are diluted and cold, by boiling they produce 
sulphuric acid from its constituent sulphur, and change 
its carbon to other forms. In contact with earthy sul- 
phates at a moderate temperature, it produces hydro-sul- 
phuric acid, and to this source that acid contained in the 
ivater may he traced. This substance does not rapidly 



34 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

attract oxygen from the atmosphere and from colored 
compounds, as some other organic compounds do. The 
proportion of organic matter, like that usually contained 
in our waters, is in this water very small ; until forty- 
nine fiftieths of the bulk of a quantity is evaporated the 
residual matter does not become colored, and when the 
saline residue is dried it is of a pale yellow. 

u The medicinal properties of this water are probably 
due to the action of this organic substance. The hydro- 
sulphuric acid resulting from its natural action is one of 
the most active substances within the reach of physicians, 
and there are chemical reasons for supposing that, after 
the water has reached the stomach, similar changes, 
accompanied by the product of hydro-sulphuric acid, 
take place* 

u Substances having characters similar to those pre- 
sented by this matter, have been classed with the lower 
order of living plants. With such matters, this sub- 
stance does not belong in the state in which it is found in 
the water, for it there forms compounds, the result of 
chemical affinities, wholly incompatible with vital action. 
In its altered state, produced by atmospheric agencies, it 
may nourish plants and develope the growth of seeds 
fitted to such a soil as its elements form. 

"AUG. A. HAYES. 

"Roxbury Laboratory, Feb. 1st, 1842." 

* See Chapter III. — On " The relative virtues of the saline and 
gaseous contents of the White sulphur water" 



ANALYSIS. 



35 



Professor William B. Rogers, of the University of 
Virginia, has also, in the course of his Geological Survey 
of the State, analyzed this water. The following is the 
result of his examinations : 

Solid matter procured by evaporation from 100 cubic 
inches of White Sulphur Water, weighed after being 
dried at 212°, 

65.54 grains. 

Quantity of each solid ingredient in 100 cubic inches, 
estimated as perfectly free from water. 



Sulphate of lime - 

Sulphate of magnesia 

Sulphate of soda - 

Carbonate of lime 

Carbonate of magnesia 

Chloride of magnesium 

Chloride of calcium - 

Chloride of sodium - 

Proto-sulphate of iron 

Sulphate of aluminae 

Earthy phosphates - 

Azotized organic matter blended 

with a large proportion of 

sulphur, about - 
Iodine, combined with sodium or 

magnesium. 



31.680 grains. 

8.241 " 

4.050 

1.530 

0.506 

0.071 

0.010 

0.226 

0.069 

0.012 
a trace 



u 



u 



u 



(C 



a 



a 



a 



u 



a 



36 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

Volume of each of the gases in a free state, contained 
in 100 cubic inches.* 

Sulphuretted hydrogen 0.66 to 1.30 cub. inches. 

Nitrogen - - - 1.88 

Oxygen - 0.19 

Carbonic acid - - 3.67 



* 100 cubic inches amounts to about 3£ pints. 



CHAPTER III 



ON THE RELATIVE VIRTUES OF THE SALINE AND GASEOUS 
CONTENTS OF THE WHITE SULPHUR WATER. 



Speculation has existed as to the relative efficacy 
of the different component parts of the White Sulphur 
Water in the cure of disease, and while some have sup- 
posed that its gaseous contents are essential to its sanative 
virtues, others, and we think the best informed observers, 
attribute its medicinal virtues mainly to its solid or saline 
contents. To the latter opinion the able Professor of 
Natural Philosophy in the University of Virginia, who 
has carefully examined the water, and other distinguished 
chemists and physicians, decidedly incline. 

It certainly is a question of no little interest to the 
valetudinarian, whether he should use this water fresh 
as it flows from the spring, and abounding in all its stim- 
ulating gas , or whether he should use it after it has 
partially or entirely parted with this gas. To this sub- 
ject we have, for the last several years, devoted the most 
laborious and particular attention, having instituted, with 
great care, various and diversified experiments, in order 
to establish something like definite and positive con- 
clusions. 

S7 



38 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

Although the value of this water in what is usually 
termed its non-stimulating form, or, in other words, when 
deprived of its gas, has long been known to many who 
are familiar with its use, it was not until the last few 
years that it was commonly used from choice, after it had 
been long removed from the spring, or from any cause 
had parted with its gaseous contents ; an opinion, the cor- 
rectness of which had never been examined, prevailed in 
the minds of many, that in losing its gas, it lost its 
strength and efficacy. 

Having settled at the "White," as the resident physi- 
cian of the place, it became alike our duty and our inte- 
rest to investigate the character and operations of its 
waters under every possible form and modification in 
which they could be presented. In the pursuit of this 
duty we resolved to take no opinion upon "trust," but 
carefully to examine and investigate for ourselves. A 
prominent question immediately presented itself for in- 
quiry, involving the relative merits which the solid and 
gaseous ingredients of the water possess as remedial agents. 
It would be tedious, and to many uninteresting, to detail 
the several steps and multiplied experiments which led us 
to conclusions upon the subject, satisfactory to our own 
mind, and upon which we have established certain prac- 
tical principles in the use of the water, which have ena- 
bled us to prescribe it, especially for nervous and excita- 
ble patients, with far greater success than heretofore. It 
is sufficient for our purpose at present to state, that while 
we freely admit that the gas, which abounds in the water, 
is an active nervine stimulant, and therefore may be a 



SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 39 

most potent agent in some cases, we are fully impressed 
with the belief that either in its direct or indirect effects, 
we must look mainly to the solid contents of the water 
for its alterative power as well as for its activity mani- 
fested in its operations through the different emunctories 
of the human body. 

Whether the efficacy of the solid contents of this water 
be owing to the specific character of any one, or to all of 
the thirteen different salts of which it is composed, and 
which exist in the water in the most minute form of sub- 
division, and in this condition enter the circulation, and 
course through the whole system, applying themselves 
appropriately to diseased tissues ; or, whether its efficacy 
depends upon the evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen gas 
after the water has reached the stomach, is a matter of cu- 
rious and interesting inquiry. 

The distinguished chemist, Mr. Augustine A. Hayes, 
of Koxbury, after having bestowed much pains in analy- 
sing the White sulphur water, and in studying its pecu- 
liar character, coines to the following conclusions as to the 
source of its medicinal power. After describing, at con- 
siderable length, a certain matter which he found to abound 
in the water, and which he terms " organic matter/' in 
the course of which he says, it "differs essentially from 
the organic matter of some thermal waters," he proceeds 
to say, "In contact with earthy sulphates, at a moderate 
temperature, it produces hydro-sulphuric acid, and to 
this source that acid contained in the water may he traced. 
This substance does not rapidly attract oxygen from the 
atmosphere, and from colored compounds, as some other 



40 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 






organic compounds do, — the medicinal properties of this 
ivater are probably due to the action of this organic sub- 
stance. The hydro-sulphuric acid resulting from its nat- 
ural action, is one of the most active substances within 
the reach of physicians. There are chemical reasons for 
supposing that, after the water has reached the stomach, 
similar changes, accompanied by the production of hy- 
dro-sulphuric acid, take place." * 

Before Mr. Hayes had communicated the above opin- 
ion, growing out of his chemical examinations, we had 
again and again been much interested with certain phe- 
nomena which we have termed the secondary formation 
of gas in the White sulphur water. Instances had fre- 
quently been reported to us of the water having been 
put into bottles after it had lost its gas entirely, being 
void both of taste and smell, and yet, after these bottles 
were kept for some days in a warm situation, and then 
opened, the water appeared equally strong of the hydro- 
sulphuric acid, as it is found to be fresh at the fountain. 

In a shipment of this water to Calcutta, some years 
since, the " transporting company" had the water bot- 
tled in Boston, from barrels that had been filled at the 
spring six months before. This water, although taste- 
less and inodorous, when put into the bottles at Boston, 
was found, on its arrival at Calcutta, so strongly im- 
pregnated with the hydro-sulphuric acid gas as to ren- 
der it necessary, under the direction of an intelligent 
gentleman of Boston, (who had witnessed this secondary 

*See Hayes* Analysis, Chapter II. 



SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 41 

formation of gas before,) to uncork the bottles for some 
time before using, that the excess of gas might escape. 

We had also known that in the process of thawing 
sulphur water in a warm room, that had been previously 
frozen, sulphuretted hydrogen gas is evolved; for al- 
though the ice has neither the taste nor smell of sul- 
phur, a strong smell of sulphuretted hydrogen gas is 
manifest as the ice is returning to water. 

We had often observed that individuals who drank 
the water entirely stale, and void alike of taste and smell, 
were as liable to have eructations of sulphuretted hydro- 
gen gas as those who drank the water fresh at the foun- 
tain. These, and other facts connected with the pecu- 
liar operations and effects of this water, when used in 
its ungaseous form, — operations and effects which it rs 
not necessary here to refer to, but all going to prove the 
secondary formation of gas under certain circumstances — 
had, in our investigations of this water, interested us 
exceedingly, and consequently, we were not a little 
pleased that Mr. Hayes' chemical examinations so fully 
sustained the opinions we had been led to entertain from 
our personal observations. 

The interesting opinion of this distinguished chemist, 
in connexion with the numerous proofs, derived from 
analogy and observation, of the secondary formation of 
sulphuretted hydrogen gas in this water, would seem to 
be well calculated to harmonize the opinion advanced by 
us of the equal efficacy of the water when deprived of 
its gas, with the sentiment entertained by some, that the 
hydrogen gas is essential to its sanative operations. 



42 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

The phenomena of a secondary formation of sulphu- 
retted hydrogen gas in mineral waters, has not, that we 
are aware of, been noticed before ; it certainly has not 
in relation to the White sulphur water, and we hope 
that medical gentlemen generally, who may have occa- 
sion to use the water, will direct a careful attention to 
this singular fact. For ourselves, we promise still fur- 
ther to investigate the subject, and may, at some subse- 
quent period, lay the results of such investigation before 
the medical public. 

Our investigation of the relative virtues of the gase- 
ous and saline contents of this water, have fully satisfied 
us that the physician, in making up his judgment as to 
the best method of administering it in particular cases, 
may always properly moot the propriety of using it 
either fresh as it flows from the spring, deprived of its 
gas, or with modified quantities. He should bear in 
mind that there are cases in which it is preferable that 
the water should be used stale, and that by depriving it 
in whole or in part of its gas, which is its active stimu- 
lating principle, he can graduate that amount of stimu- 
lus to the system which it may demand, and this, in 
most cases, without lessening the actively operative or 
alterative effects of the water. 

For some patients, the White sulphur water, as it 
flows from the spring, is too stimulating, and hence, 
before the non-stimulating method of using it was intro- 
duced, many such patients annually left the spring, 
either without giving the water a trial, or actually ren- 
dered worse by its stimulating influence. This class of 






SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 43 

persons can now use the water when deprived of its gas, 
not only with impunity, but often with the happiest results. 
Numerous cures, effected by the use of the water for the 
last ten or fifteen years, have been in that class of pa- 
tients by whom the water, fresh at the spring, could not 
have been used without injury. The cases of Mr. Mor- 
ton, of Mississippi, and J. L. Jernagan, Esq., reported 
at large in a pamphlet published in 1841, are pertinent 
examples of such cases. 

In the case of many nervous persons, and especially 
those whose brain is prone to undue excitement, we have 
often found it necessary, either by freezing or heating 
the water, to throw off its gas completely, before it could 
be tolerated by the system; and some of the happiest 
results that we have ever witnessed from the use of the 
water, have been achieved by it after being thus pre- 
pared. The cases of Mrs. H., of Georgia, and of Mr. 
B., of Massachusetts,* the one afflicted with disease of 
the stomach and chest, the other with chronic inflamma- 
tion of the brain, are instances, among scores of others 
that might be referred to. But this is not all. With 
the view of guarding effectually against any errors that 
might arise from a defect in our own observations, we 
procured the assistance of several physicians, and other 
intelligent gentlemen, all of whom were familiar with 
the operations and effects of the water when drunk fresh 
at the spring, and who, with the view of testing the facts 
we have mentioned, used it themselves ; and gave it to 

^Reported at large in a pamphlet published in 1841. 



44 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

others, after it had been long removed from the spring, 
and to all appearances parted with its gas ; and with the 
same results that they had previously experienced in 
their own persons, or witnessed in others, from like 
quantities of the fresh water, abounding in its gas. 

Our object in prescribing White sulphur water has 
been to pursue a discriminating or pathological practice. 
"VVe regard it as an active and potent medicine, and be- 
lieve that, like all such medicines, it should be used 
with a wise reference to the nature of the case, and the 
state of the system. We must not be understood as ad- 
vancing the opinion, that the White sulphur water is 
always to be preferred after the escape of its gas. We 
entertain no such opinion ; on the contrary, for a large 
class of visiters to that watering place, we think it pre- 
ferable that they should avail themselves of the use of 
the water either at, or recently removed from the foun- 
tain, and as it naturally abounds in its gases. There are 
other cases in which the exciting influence of its gas can 
only be borne in a more limited degree, and for such, we 
permit its partial escape before using the water; while 
in a numerous class of cases, (and especially on first com- 
mencing the use of the water,) we esteem it indispensa- 
ble to its quick and beneficial operation, that its uncom- 
bined gas, which gives taste and smell, should have es- 
caped. 

In recommending the White sulphur, then, to the use 
of the invalid, we esteem it quite as necessary to investi- 
gate the manner of using, as relates to its fresh or stale 
quality, as we do in reference to its dose ; or the times of 



SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 45 

administering it; and for neither would we lay down 
positive and absolute rules in advance; for each case 
must, in the nature of things, to a great extent give rules 
for its own government. 

The great value of this water as a therapeutical agent 
to a large class of persons who visit the fountain, is a fact 
alike unquestioned and unquestionable. That in its nat- 
ural condition, as it flows from the bosom of the earth, it 
is happily adapted to numerous cases of disease, is a truth 
established by upwards of sixty years' experience, as well 
as fully sustained by the numerous cures that are constant- 
ly occuring. The great value of the water, then, fresh as 
it flows from the spring, and abounding in its gas, is a 
truth, so far as we know, that is unassailed, and which, 
we believe, is unassailable. Nevertheless, that there are 
many cases in which the gas is not beneficial in the 
amount in which it exists in the fresh water, is a fact 
which our experience enables us to assert with the utmost 
confidence. That the water in such cases, therefore, is 
better without its gas than with it, follows as effect fol- 
lows cause. But we do not teach that the water, per se, 
and without reference to cases, should always be preferred 
without its gas. We base not our practice upon any such 
narrow and exclusive views ; nor do we deny the value of 
the agency of the gas in appropriate cases. 

We, then, regard the solid contents of the White sul- 
phur water, either in its direct or indirect influences, as 
the main agency in its medicinal efficacy. Whether the 
efficacy of the salts of the water be owing to their absorp- 
tion into the system as such, or whether it depends upon 



46 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

the secondary formation of hydro-sulphtiric acid gas in 
the stomach, or whether it ought to be ascribed to the 
combination of these different agencies, we leave for 
others more fond of speculation to decide. We have 
heretofore been satisfied with the knowledge of the effi- 
cacy of the solid contents, without much theorizing to 
explain the why and wherefore. 

But, it may be asked, If the gas does good in the state 
of a secondary formation in the stomach, would not a 
larger quantity, taken with the fresh water, do more 
good ? We reply, that this by no means follows in that 
class of cases for which we specially advise the ungaseous 
water; for our only objection to the fresh water in such 
cases is, that it has too much gas. Admitting, then, as 
we do, that the gas may exert an influence, we allege that 
in nervous and excitable cases, the quantity is not only bet- 
ter adapted to the system, but that any given quantity, un- 
der a secondary formation, excites the system less, from its 
gradual formation in the stomach, than if suddenly re- 
ceived in volume into that viscus. 

Nor do we, because we recommend the ungaseous water 
in particular cases, repudiate and disallow all medicinal 
agency of the gas as a general principle ? Not at all. 
We simply contend that for the treatment of certain 
cases, there is more of the stimulating gas in the fresh 
water than such cases can bear with advantage or impu- 
nity; and that its excessive excitation in such cases 
would be prejudicial instead of beneficial. 

But do we find it necessary to guard the amount of 
gas for every water drinker ? or in effect to erect a bed of 



SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 47 

Procrustes, and oblige every one to conform to its length ? 
By no means. A. arrives at the springs, not mnch de- 
bilitated by disease, and with a firm, nervous, and mus- 
cular system ; there is no excessive excitability in his 
case, and neither his cerebral, nervous, nor vascular sys- 
tem is particularly prone to be affected by stimulants or 
exciting medicines. We advise him to use the water 
as it flows from the fountain, and if he should, contrary 
to expectations, find that it stimulates him unpleasantly, 
to set it by for a short time before using. 

B. calls for advice as to the manner of using the 
water; — his temperament, and the state of his cerebral, 
nervous, and vascular system is the opposite of A's, — his 
physical energies have been prostrated by disease; his 
nerves are unstrung, and, like his brain, prone to be 
painfully affected by stimulants or excitiog medicines. 
We advise him to use the water after it has, either par- 
tially or entirely, parted with its gas, that is, after it has 
been set by for twelve or eighteen hours, as the delicacy 
and excitability of his system demand. 

The following extract of a letter from Charles Keen, 
Esq., so happily represents the different effects we daily 
witness, from the use of the water in its ungaseous state, 
that we insert it in elucidation of our own views. 

"Dear Sir, — When I first came to the Springs I com- 
menced using the water fresh at the fountain, but was 
compelled to discontinue it, in consequence of its stimu- 
lating effects upon my system, producing at the same time 
headache, dryness and burning in the shin, with constipa- 
tion of the bowels. I then had recourse to it, brought to 
my room in an open vessel, and let it remain until its gas 



48 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

had partly escaped, before I drank it. The use' of it in 
this way produced the most desirable results, and in a rea- 
sonable time did much to restore me to health, having 
been previously afflicted with disease of the liver and 
stomach, with a symptomatic affection of the lungs. 

CHARLES KEEN." 

In cases of inflammation of the parenchyma of the 
brain, and in other highly excitable conditions of the 
cerebral or nervous system, we have the water more care- 
fully prepared, either by heating or freezing it. We have 
a case at this time under treatment, in the person of 
Mrs. F., in which there is such an extreme susceptibility 
of the brain, that absolute derangement for several hours 
was the consequence, in several instances, of taking two 
glasses of the water fresh from the spring; although she 
bears with impunity, and is improving rapidly, under 
prepared water. 

In graduating the amount of stimulus, or if the gase- 
ous theorist please, the amount of medical material to the 
wants of the system — in other words, varying our pre- 
scription to suit the case — are we departing from a scien- 
tific and improved system of practice ? What would be 
thought of the science of a medical man, who invariably 
used, either the same medicine, or the same dose of any 
medicine, without regard to the peculiarities or consti- 
tution of his patients ? Just what ought to be thought 
of us, or any one else, who would direct so potent an 
agent as White sulphur water to be used alike in every 
variety of constitution and disease. 

A popular error, in relation to mineral waters, is that 
they exert a sort of mysterious influence on the system ; 



SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 49 

and that as nature has elaborated them in the bowels of 
the earth, they are, therefore, formed in the best possible 
manner for the cure of disease. This opinion is not more 
reasonable than it would be to suppose that nature has 
formed antimony in the best possible form, for the cure 
of disease, although we know, that in this form, under 
the administration of the celebrated Basil Valentine, it 
slew all the monks in his cloister. 

Like all other remedial agents, potent mineral waters 
produce certain effects upon the animal economy, and 
these effects will be beneficial or injurious, as the remedy 
is properly or improperly employed. For instance, C., 
who is nervous, delicate, and excitable, and is affected 
with functional derangement of the organs, requires to 
receive for a certain time, the influence of a mineral 
water, which while it acts as an aperient upon his bow- 
els, enters his circulation, courses through his system 
and alterates his deranged organs ; being at the same 
time so bland and unstimulating in iffi general effects, as 
not to arouse any one, or a series of organs into undue 
excitement and rebellion against the common good. Such 
a remedy is found in the stale and ungaseous White sul- 
phur water. 

D. requires the very same effects to be be exerted 
upon his diseased organs, — but he is of very different 
temperament and constitution. His brain and nerves 
are prone to no unnatural excitement, and he is unaffected 
with the thousand physical sensibilities to which C. is 
subject. D. may take the White sulphur water with 
impunity and advantage, in any manner most agreeable 



50 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

to him. In his case its exciting gas constitutes no objec- 
tion to its use. The good effects of the water, so diffe- 
rently used by C and D., will be the same, because the 
difference in their cases mahes the difference in the use of 
the remedy. 

In conclusion let us for a moment look into the reason- 
ableness of ascribing medicinal efficiency to the saline mat-, 
ter of mineral waters, and inquire what the most distin- 
guished physicians have thought on this subject. 

The analysis of this water shows it to be composed of 
several of the more active alteratives of the Materia Me- 
dieaj and this alone would seem to settle the question 
of its alterative power. To what medicine, next to mer- 
cury, do we look as the most certain alterative ? In the 
mineral kingdom, to iodine certainly ;— this we have in 
the White sulphur water. Sulphur too, is a powerful 
alterative. This we have in the form of precipitated 
sulphur. We have also its combinations in the active 
forms of sulphate of lime, sulph. magnesia, sulph. soda, 
and sulph. hyd. sodium. We, also, there find various 
carbonates and chlorides, all more or less alterative in 
their character. These salts exist in the water in the 
most minute form of subdivision that can be conceived, 
or, in other words, in solution ; they are absorbed into 
the mass of the circulation, course through the whole 
system, applying themselves as appropriate agents to dis- 
eased organs and tissues. 

Professor Mutter, of Philadelphia, when speaking of 
the different ingredients of mineral waters, says, " It is 
general admitted, I believe, that when absorbed and con- 



SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 51 

veyed through the economy, they have the property of 
changing the consistence as well as the composition of 
our fluids, thereby accomplishing what is called an alte- 
rative action" 

Dr. John Bell, confessedly the standard authority in 
the United States, on such subjects, in his admirable 
work on " Baths and Mineral Waters," bears the follow- 
ing emphatic testimony to the virtues of the saline ingre- 
dients in mineral waters : " When taken into the sto- 
mach or intestines, they (mineral waters) have a double 
operation, the one common, and generally uniform, de- 
pending on their basis, or their pure watery vehicle ; the 
other proper and peculiar, being the effect of their saline 
or mineral substances held in solution" The same au- 
thor continues to remark, " that the small proportion of 
foreign ingredients in mineral waters, compared with the 
quantity of the same substances prescribed in medical 
practice, has created surprise in the minds of some, and 
incredulity in others, at the alleged efficacy of the former, 
when the latter, in so much larger doses, has been at- 
tended with comparatively trifling results. In reply to 
this it is only necessary to remind my readers of a few 
tolerably familiar principles in physiology and therapeu- 
tics. First, we know that the action of many remedial 
agents, chiefly of the stimulant and narcotic tribes, is 
primarily and almost exclusively exerted on the stomach, 
and by sympathy on the rest of the system. Solids, 
vegetable and metallic, in small bulk, and taken without 
much dilution, are nearly equally local, in their first 
effects, with the additional application to the surface of 



52 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

the intestines, but in either case their action is dif- 
fused by the same law of sympathy. In the second place, 
as the whole mucous surface of the stomach and intes- 
tines has this great sensibility to the impression of 
ingesta of every kind, especially those of a remedial na- 
ture, it is very obvious that the sensations produced by 
these means will be active, and their diffusion through 
the system by nervous agency or sympathy prompt and 
general, in proportion to the extent of the surface acted on. 
Now, mineral waters taken usually in considerable quan- 
tity, so as to fill the stomach, and pass promptly into the 
intestines, are so applied to these parts, as to enable their 
saline and metallic ingredients to act on almost the entire 
surface of the digestive tube, and of course to produce all 
the effects which we could desire from such ingredients ; 
effects not to be expected from them, even though in 
larger quanties, when applied but to a few points, or lim- 
ited extent of surface. Finally, the experiments of late 
years have most satisfactorily established the fact of the 
absorption of various substances, nutritious and medici- 
nal, and above all, fluids, by the veins of the stomach and 
intestines, as well as by the lacteals, without, in many 
cases, those substances losing their distinctive character : 
nay, further, that the peculiar and specific action and ef- 
fects of the various agents, are as operative when injected 
into the veins as when taken into the stomach. 

It is then hardly necessary, after such preliminaries, to 
draw the inference in which most reader will have antici- 
pated me; namely, that the absorption of the mineral 
water, drunk in large quantities, must be prompt and 



SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 53 

abundant, — and consequently that the different ingredi- 
ents of which the fluid was the memstruum, being thus 
thrown into the circulation, will produce varied and de- 
cisive results, such as could not be expected from any 
other mode of administration/' 

Dr. Bell, after laying down the positions we have just 
quoted, makes this additional reflection upon the subject, 
which we commenced to such as form hasty theories and 
opinions, as to the virtues of mineral waters ; and we will 
add, as to the virtues of the different ingredients of min- 
eral waters, u that it is only by multiplied facts, that is, 
by experience of its use, that we can speak positively of 
its virtues." 



CHAPTER IV. 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE WHITE 
SULPHUR WATER. 



Much that might have been said under this head, has 
been anticipated in the chapter on " mineral waters in 
general." 

1. It is scarcely necessary to remark after all that has 
heretofore been said of the necessity of using Mineral 
Waters, with strict reference to the nature of the disease 
in which they are employed, and of the injurfous conse- 
quences, often arising from their careless or improper use, 
that it is not designed that the directions herein given, 
shall be considered sufficient to guide in the use of the 
White sulphur water in all cases, nor in any difficult and 
important case to the exclusion of the more minute and 
specific directions which such case may demand. It is 
my intention rather to indicate the general rules, which 
ordinarily must be observed in its administration, than 
to lay down definite directions which shall apply to all 
cases. 

Every one who is familiar with the various types of 
disease, and with the peculiarities and radical difference 
in different constitutions and temperaments, modifying 

54 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 55 

and influencing diseased action, will at once be satisfied 
of the impossibility of laying down any absolute rule for 
the use of a potent medicine, that should be strictly 
adhered to in all cases. Each case, to a certain extent, 
must, with this, as with all other medicinal agents, 
indicate the proper dose, and the proper manner of 
administration. 

2. As has been already remarked, it is very common 
to attribute the beneficial effects of mineral waters to 
their immediate sensible and obvious effects upon the 
human body. I have already shown this opinion to be 
erroneous : that so far from it being true that mineral 
waters uniformly manifest their beneficial effects by their 
active operations — that such operations frequently delay, 
or entirely prevent the good which they otherwise would 
have accomplished through the medium of their alterative 
effects. 

Those who desire to obtain the alterative operations of 
the water, must, as a general rule, take it in small quan- 
tities, and continue its use for such length of time as 
will be sufficient, in common spring parlance, to " saturate 
the system/ ' Patients thus using the water are apt, 
however, to become restless and dissatisfied for the first 
few days ; so much so, that it is often difiicult to reconcile 
them to this manner of administration ; because, say they, 
"it is doing me no good :" they wish to see such tokens 
of activity as are given by prompt and vigorous purgation. 
In a general way, I prefer that the water should act suffi- 
ciently on the bowels, even when given in reference to its 



56 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

alterative effects, to obviate the necessity of giving any 
other medicine for that purpose : but it is often better to 
use some mild purgative from the shops to effect this 
object for the first few days, than that the quantity of 
water should be greatly increased. This advice we know 
is very different from that generally given, and but too 
willingly pursued by those who receive it. 

Comparatively but few strangers who visit the White 
Sulphur, are aware of the potency of its waters, and 
under the false impression that no harm will arise from 
any quantity that the stomach will bear, many are induced 
to use them in quantities that not only defeat their sana- 
tive effects, but do much positive injury. 

I have just remarked that it is often difficult to recon- 
cile patients to the use of small and inoperative quantities 
of this water. Many such instances have come under 
my observation, and some in which painful experience 
alone could control. A prominent instance of this kind, 
occurred in my practice several years since, in the person 
of Mr. C . He was under treatment for a compli- 
cated stomach and neuralgic affection, and had used the 
water twelve days in small doses with happy effect, — he 
was lodging at one of the adjoining hotels, and believing 
that he was doing well, I did not see him for two or three 
days, and then casually met with him. I was astonished 
to find him greatly changed for the worse. His appetite, 
before good, had almost entirely ceased ; his system was 
irritable and feverish ; could not sleep at night ; and in 
every respect was sensibly worse ; had begun to despair, 
and proposed leaving for home, as he ; was " satisfied the 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 57 

water was not agreeing with him." I accused him of 
impropriety in diet, or of other imprudences, but he sat- 
isfied me that he had followed my directions in all " such 
things/' but that he had so far varied from my advice in 
the use of the water, as to take sixteen instead of six 
glasses daily for the last few days. I advised this gen- 
tleman, as I would all others who have committed a sim- 
ilar " debauch" on cold water, to discontinue its use 
entirely for a time — take some cooling opening medicines, 
and then return to the use of it in rational doses. This 
plan was pursued by Mr. C, and with the happiest 
results. 

The opinion is as common as it is erroneous, among 
those who visit mineral waters, that they are to be bene- 
fited in proportion to the quantity they drink. Persons 
in health, or not debilitated by disease, do sometimes 
indulge in enormously large and long-continued potations 
of such waters with apparent impunity; but it by no 
means follows, that those whose stomachs are enervated 
by disease, and whose general health is much enfeebled, 
can indulge the habit with equal safety. In such sto- 
machs, the effects of inordinate distension are always 
painful and injurious, while the sudden diminution of the 
temperature, from large quantities of cold fluid suddenly 
thrown into the system, can scarcely fail to prove 
injurious. 

"We sometimes meet with another class of visiters who 
err just as much on the opposite extreme : they arrive 
at the springs, and place themselves under the govern- 
ment of a recipe for the use of the water, drawn up, 



58 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

most commonly, by some distant medical adviser, who 
has never himself had an opportunity of observing its 
effects; and such we not unfrequently see taking this 
aqua medicinalis in literally broken doses ; — in quantities 
altogether insufficient to produce any sanative effect. 

3. Quantity of the Water to be Used. 

The quantity of the water to be taken in the course of 
the day, depends, in a very great degree, upon the nature 
of the case and the peculiar condition of the system at 
the time of taking it. Comparatively but few invalids 
should use, at first, more than from four to eight glasses 
during the day ; in some instances, not more than two or 
three. In most cases these quantities may be gradually 
increased to ten or twelve glasses. In a general way, 
this should be considered the maximum quantity, even 
for robust persons, though there are cases in which the 
amount may be still further enlarged. 

4. Periods for the Use of the Water, &c. 

The periods at which the water should be used is a 
matter of no little importance. A common practice at 
the springs is to drink it a short time before each meal, 
morning, noon, and afternoon, In some cases this man. 
ner of using the water is to be preferred ; in others, it is 
better that the whole that is taken in the course of the 
day, be divided into two parts, and taken, either in the 
morning before breakfast, and a short; time before dinner ; 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 59 

or, in the morning, and a short time before going to bed 
at night. 

Advantage is very seldom secured from the water 
taken before supper, and often it is prejudicial from its 
proneness to run off by the kidneys. Observations lead 
me to believe that, as a general rule, the water taken 
before breakfast, and before going to bed at night, is 
most serviceable to a majority of invalids; though there 
are some who cannot very well bear it at night, and 
attention should always be paid to this circumstance. 

It should not be used immediately before or after a 
meal ; nor should glass after glass ordinarily be taken in 
rapid succession. By this reprehensible practice the 
stomach is often overtasked, and immediately-unpleasant 
consequences result, such as eructations, giddiness, un- 
pleasant excitation, and a painful sense of fullness, and 
sometimes a permanent injury of the stomach with atonic 
dyspepsia. Such a course also disposes the water to run 
off hastily by the kidneys — an operation for which it has 
naturally a strong tendency, and which often embarrasses 
in its administration. 

Now and then advantage is derived from using the 
water at meals, and sometimes a tolerance is established 
for it in this -way, which cannot be achieved by any other. 
In most cases, however, it is very unpleasant to the in- 
valid to use it with his meals. 

I cannot leave this branch of the subject without earn- 
estly urging upon invalids the importance of strict atten- 
tion as to the manner and periods of using the White 
sulphur water ; — much, very much, of its curative power 



60 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

depends upon the use of proper quantities and upon the pe- 
riods of administration. A series of comparative experi- 
ments with the water as to times of using, quantities 
used, &c, <Soc, has fully satisfied me, that its influences 
on disease are as much modified by the different methods 
of using it as we find to be the case with mercury, or any 
other article in general use by the physician. 

5. Length of time to use the Water. 

The length of time the invalid should continue the use 
of this water, depends entirely upon the nature of the 
case, — the manner in which it has been used, and the sus- 
ceptibilities of the system. Most erroneous notions exist 
in a large portion of the public mind upon this subject. 
Many believe that it will exert all its good influences ; or, 
as they say, will " saturate the system," in eight or ten 
days; others allow it two, three, and four weeks to effect 
the same object. Now, the truth is that the time, in 
which the ultimate good effects of the water are accom- 
plished, always depends, as before remarked, upon circum- 
stances; — upon the nature of the case, — the manner in 
which the water has been used, and upon the susceptibili- 
ties of the system. Some persons will be thrown as fully 
under its influence in two weeks as others will be in four ; 
and yet it may be equally well adapted to each case. In 
every case of its administration, respect should rather be 
had to the effects it is producing, than to the time it has 
been used. It never cures diseases until it has first pro- 
duced certain effects upon the animal economy — effects 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 61 

which can always be distinguished by the practiced 
observer during the progress of their operation, with the 
same certainty that we can distinguish the effects under 
the alterative operation of mercury. 

It often happens that persons to whose cases the water 
is well adapted, use it assiduously for three or four weeks, 
without deriving a particle of permanent benefit; — and 
all in consequence of so improperly using it, both in time 
and quantity, as to force it out of the system by the 
emunctories, without " touching the case," — without 
being permitted to tarry long enough to produce any of 
those salutary effects which must precede a cure. 

It cannot, therefore, be too earnestly urged upon those 
who are using the water for any obstinate disease, to have 
their attention fixed upon the effects which it is producing, 
or has produced, rather than upon a given number of 
days, in which they may have been taught to believe 
their systems would become changed or " saturated." 

Dr. Armstrong found that from six to twelve iveeks 
were often required for Harrowgate and Dinsdale waters 
to produce their full curative effects ; and we occasionally 
see similar time required for the development of the full 
sanative effects of this water. In some cases, however, 
where the system was previously well prepared, and the 
subsequent management judicious, the White sulphur 
water will produce its full alterative operations in about 
two weeks. Such cases, however, are rare, and it will 
generally be found that from three to six weeks, or even 
longer, must elapse under its use, before those u profound 
changes " are wrought which precede and ensure a return 



62 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

to health. These remarks, as far as they relate to time, 
are applicable to all our mineral waters that cure disease 
in virtue of their alterative action ) for if they be true as 
to the Harrowgate ;* admittedly one of the strongest 
sulphur waters in the world, and of the White Sulphur, 
scarcely, if at all inferior in strength to that celebrated 

* Note. — The Harrowgate and White Sulphur waters differ very 
materially. The author visited and spent some time at Harrowgate 
in 1851, and expresses the opinion, as the result of his own personal 
observations and enquiries at the Springs ; that the Harrowgate Sul- 
phur Waters, while they are stronger than the White Sulphur in 
some of the salts common to both, are nevertheless inferior to the 
latter in alterative potency and efficacy. 

There are no less than fourteen different Wells at Harrowgate, all 
of which are more or less resorted to on account of their medical 
properties. Six of them are impregnated with sulphuretted hydro- 
gen; five of them are pure chalybeates; one is a saline chalybeate; 
and two may be considered as simply saline, since they contain little 
iron and are destitute of sulphuretted hydrogen. 

The Old Sulphur Well, the strongest of this class of waters at 
Harrowgate, is beautifully transparent and sparkling ; of the tem- 
perature of 49°, supposed to be the mean temperature of that part 
of Yorkshire. By analysis, it is found to contain in an imperial 
gallon — 

Chloride of sodium, - 

Chloride of calcium, - 

Chloride of magnesium, - 

Bi-carbonate of soda, - - - . 



Sulph. hydrogen gas, 
Carbonate acid gas, 
Carburetted hydrogen gas, 
Azotic gas, - 



867.0 


grains. 


87.0 


tt 


42.5 


t( 


20.0 


tt 


1016.5 


u 


15.64 cub. in. 


2.72 


a 


6/80 


a 


8.84 


a 


34.00 





GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 63 

European spring, they cannot be less true of waters of 
the same class, but inferior in point of strength. 

When sulphurous waters are prescribed, their opera- 
tions should be narrowly watched, and if they produce 
untoward and unpleasant symptoms, such as headache, 
gastric distress, furred tongue, quick and irritable pulse, 
with costive bowels and loss of appetite, they should ordi- 
narily be temporarily, or permanently 'discontinued, as 
circumstances may demand. The temporary discontin- 
uance of the water under the circumstances just sup- 
posed, and the use of a brisk cathartic, or the lancet, if 
the state of the blood vessels demand it, will generally 
enable us to return to its use in a day or two with safety 
and success. 

6. Previous Preparation for the Use of the 

Water. 

Some preparation of the system preceding the use of 
the water, is often, though not always, necessary for its 
safe and advantageous administration. Mcst persons, 
after the excitement usual to the travel in visiting the 
springs, will be profited by taking some gentle purgative, 
and by the use of a light and cooling diet for a day 
or two before the water is freely used. Those in feeble 
health should always commence the use of the water 
with great caution, and generally in its least stimulating 
form, that is, after it has set in an open vessel until its 
gas has escaped. If, with these precautions, it fail to 
exert its desired effects, or produces unpleasant symp- 



64 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

toms, the medical adviser, to whom it would be necessary 
to resort in such an emergency, would, of course, pre- 
scribe according to circumstances; nor can any general 
rule be given as respects the treatment that would be 
necessary in such a case ; one patient often requiring 
treatment essentially different from another. 

Invalids, however, ought not to despair of the use of 
the water, and of its adaptation to their cases, simply 
because it may, at first, or even in the progress of its 
use, display some vagrant and improper action upon the 
system. Errors in its action, if they may so be termed, 
generally arise from errors in its use, and may generally 
be prevented by a change in the method of administra- 
tion, or by some medical adjuvants, so that the water 
may be safely continued. 

7. Effects of the Water on the System. 

The sensible medicinal effects of the water are promi- 
nently displayed in its action upon the Bowels, Liver, 
Kidneys, and Shin, and when drunk fresh at the foun- 
tain, by a lively Stimulant effect upon the system in 
general, and upon the brain in particular. 

Proper quantities, taken in the morning before break- 
fast, will often exert some cathartic effect in the course 
of the day. The liver is, in most instances, brought 
under its influences, from a few days perseverance in the 
use of it, as will be manifest from; the character of the 
excretions. Its action upon the kidneys is readily in- 
duced, and we occasionally see it exerting at the same 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 65 

time, both a diuretic and cathartic operation. Very 
commonly the exhalent vessels of the skin are stimulated 
to increased perspiration ; but its full effects upon the 
surface, manifested not only by increased but sulphurous 
perspiration, do not often occur until it has been freely 
used for several weeks, nor until the secretory system 
generally has been brought under its influence. 

As the system is brought under the influence of the 
water, the appetite and the ability to digest food are 
sensibly augmented. The spirits become buoyant and 
cheerful, with increased desire for social company and 
amusements. * 

Exercise, previously irksome, is now enjoyed without 
fatigue, and so great is the change in the whole man, 
that the patient often expresses his appreciation of it by 
declaring that he is " a new man," — and so he is in 
reference to his physical and social feelings. 

8. Use of Medicines. 

Advantage is often derived during the administration 
of this water, from the judicious use of appropriate 
medicinal adjuncts, whose tendency is to give to the 
water a specific direction upon the organs, or to restrain 
some untoward -and improper action. 

In most obstinate cases in which it is desirable to pro- 
cure the specific operations of the water on particular 
organs, much time, to say the least of it, is saved by 
uniting with the water for a few days, some adjuvant 
that specifically determines to such organs. By such a 



66 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

procedure, the water may be invited to the organs and 
establish its action upon them much sooner than it would 
without such aid. 

In diseases of the abdominal viscera, generally, the 
patient may often economise a week or more of the time, 
which otherwise it would be necessary for him to use 
the water, by the proper introduction of some medical 
adjunct to the end that has been intimated. The milder 
mercurials, in union with some of the vegetable purga- 
tives, often answer exceedingly well in such cases. 

I believe that the proportion of invalids, especially of 
such as are suffering with Biliary derangements, that 
will derive increased benefit from the employment of 
mild alterative cathartics, to precede or accompany the use 
of the White sulphur water, is as ten to one at least, — 
and that, in nine cases out of ten, the subject of bil- 
iary derangements, will economise. a week or ten days in 
the necessary use of the water, by the occasional use of 
such medicines. As this is a matter of importance to 
many invalids, I remark, that of the varied forms of 
purgatives which I have tried, none have proved so gen- 
erally beneficial as the following : 

R. Extract Colocinth Comp.. 3 i ss. 

Blue Mass, 9 ii ss. 

Ant. Tart., • gr. ij. 

Oil Caraway, . gtt. vj. 

Mix and make 25 pills. 

The dose must be regulated by the effects produced. 
One or two stools should be procured each day, and ordi- 
narily two of the pills will produce this effect, until the 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 67 

water has time to alterate the liver and supercede their 
use altogether. 

During the same period, advantage may generally be 
derived from the use of some of the vegetable bitter ex- 
tracts or infusions, such as the Quassia, Gentian or 
Colombo. 

A most valuable aid in the use of this water is the 
tepid , warm, or hot sulphur bath. We cannot here enter 
into particular directions for the use of such baths. 
We just observe that they may be made a most impor- 
tant auxiliary in a large circle of cases, if timely and 
otherwise properly employed. 

Hot sulphur bathing, indeed hot bathing of any kind 
is a remedy potent and positive in its influences ; — capa- 
ble of effecting much good when judiciously employed, 
or corresponding evil when improperly used. Like po- 
tent mineral waters, it is often* used empirically and 
improperly, and, hence, becomes a curse when it should 
have been a blessing. It is a remedy essentially revolu- 
tionary in its character, — never negative, but always 
producing positive results upon the economy for good or 
for evil. 

The condition of the system indicates with sufficient 
clearness the time for commencing, and the temperature 
of the bath. In most cases, the bathing point is as 
clearly indicated under a course of sulphur waters as the 
blistering or bleeding point is in inflammations, and the 
value of the remedy is much dependent upon such 
timely employment. When the water has well opened 
the boweis, has found its way into the general circula- 



68 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

tion, softening the skin and calming the irritation of the 
arterial system, the sulphur baths may be used with 
great confidence in their efficacy. 

Hot baths should never be taken during the existence 
of febrile excitement. They should be used on an 
empty stomach, and, as a general rule, before the decline 
of the day, and their temperature always carefully regu- 
lated to suit the nature of the case and the state of the 
system. 

9. Changing from Spring to Spring. 

A very common error in the use of Mineral Waters, 
is the belief that the patient should often change from 
one water to another,, and that no one should be used 
longer than some given number of days, and this without 
any reference to its effects upon the system. This absurd 
notion leads many persons to fly from spring to spring, 
performing in a few weeks or days the circuit of the 
whole "spring region" and without remaining long 
enough at any one to receive permanent benefit. Now, 
if the position heretofore laid down be correct, that 
"mineral waters, like all other medicines, cure disease 
by exerting effects upon the animal economy," the impro- 
priety will be obvious to all, of rapidly hastening from 
one fountain to another, without tarrying long enough at 
any to receive those effects upon the body which are neces- 
sary to a cure. Such a water-drinker acts like the " maid 
of all works/ 7 always busy, but accomplishing nothing. 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 69 

What would be thought of the physician, who, having 
decided that his patient must undergo the influence of 
alterative action upon his system, and having put him 
upon a course of mercury to accomplish this object, 
should, just before this drug would have accomplished 
the end, discontinue its use, and put him upon iodine ; 
and just as this was about to alterate the system, abandon 
it and substitute sarsaparilla ; and thus, from one drug 
to another, running through the whole routine of altera- 
tive remedies, without giving any sufficient time to effect 
the object. This would surely be an absurd method of 
practice ; and yet it would not be more absurd than the 
course we often see pursued by visiters at our springs, — 
who literally waste their whole time " in the mountains," 
and debar themselves of all permanent good, by spending 
their time rather among the springs, than at any one of 
them. The state of mind which leads invalids thus 
improperly to act, is often induced from the random opin- 
ions or injudicious advice of their fellow sufferers whom 
they meet with at the various watering places. One will 
tell another that they have seen or heard of some person 
that was cured at once, at this, that, or the other spring. 
You will be assured by one, that the " "White" is the 
place ; by another, that the " Salt" is better suited to 
your case ; a third informs you that you would do better 
at the "Blue;" while others will tell you there is nothing 
like the "Bed," the " Sweet," the "Warm," the "Hot." 
Thus are the minds of persons frequently perplexed, until 
they come to the conclusion to " make the rounds" and 
try them all for a day or two. In this way the hapless 



70 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

invalid is often led to fritter away the whole time he 
remains in the mountains, without deriving permanent 
advantage from " all the springs" when, very probably, 
the time he had fruitlessly spent at them all, would 
have been sufficient to have cured him at any one of them. 
Let it be distinctly understood that these remarks are 
meant for the serious invalid only. Persons who visit 
the springs for amusement or pleasure, or those who come 
merely as a relaxation from business, and require only the 
tone which travel and mountain air can give, may, with 
great propriety, go from spring to spring, and spend their 
time just where they are the happiest. But for the in- 
valid who has something for the waters to do, it is not so; 
he should first wisely determine which of the springs is 
best calculated to cure his disease; and having settled 
this important question, should persevere in the use of 
that particular water ; carefully watching its effects, and 
u not be carried about by every wind of doctrine." If 
the appropriate agent for his cure be the " Blue," the 
"Bed," the " Salt," the "White," let him use it to the 
exclusion of all others, either until its inapplicability has 
been proven, or until it produces the specific effects which 
he desires. 

10. Dress. 

Delicate persons visiting the mountains for health, 
should be particularly cautious on^ the subject of dress. 
It is rather more easy to dress with the ever varying 
fashions, than to dress appropriately for all the weather 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 71 

that happens in our mountains during the "watering 
seasons." The weather is often so variable and uncertain 
as to make it a good general rule for the invalid to dress 
without reference to any particular state of it, but always 
warm and comfortable, with (in most cases) but little 
change from his dress in the spring season before he 
reached the mountains. 

Some invalids will be benefitted by constantly wearing 
soft flannel next the skin, not only because it keeps up 
a more uniform temperature than linen, but also because 
of the gentle excitement it occasions on the surface of 
the body. The best summer dress, however, which we 
have ever seen worn next the body — and always a valu- 
able accompaniment of flannel, winter and summer, is 
woven silk. We are led to believe from experience, that 
silk, worn next the skin, is the very best protection we 
can command against the influence of cold. In rheuma- 
tism and neuralgia, a covering of woven silk is a valuable 
remedy ; and for all delicate persons, and for those pecu- 
liarly susceptible to colds, it is a most invaluable shield to 
the body. The superiority of silk over every other cover- 
ing is probably owing to its peculiarity as a non-conductor 
of electricity ; but whether this be so or not, is left to the 
astute medical philosopher to determine; it is sufficient 
for us to know the fact of its superior efficacy, without 
stopping to account for it. 

Since the above paragraph was written, we have had 
six years additional observation of the use of silk as a 
covering for delicate and susceptible persons ; and the 
result is, that we are more than ever convinced of its 



72 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

great superiority. Indeed, such persons, while in our 
variable climate, and under the influence of Sulphur 
Waters that increase the susceptibility of the system, 
cannot by any other dress, so effectually secure them- 
selves against the encroachment of colds, as by the use 
of silk sacks worn next the skin. Nor ought this pre- 
caution to be neglected by such, especially, as the exist- 
ence of a cold always renders the use of the waters less 
efficacious, and sometimes positively injurious, for the 
time it may continue. 

11. Diet, Exercise, &c. 

Diet and exercise during the use of mineral water, are 
of too much importance to be passed over without no- 
tice. It is to be regretted that so little as relates to diet, 
is placed within the power of the invalid at our watering 
places generally. Usually there is but one general sys- 
tem of living at all such places, and this invariably a 
system very illy adapted to the invalid. 

Persons using the White sulphur water may ordina- 
rily, indulge in moderation, in that diet which they found 
to agree best with them at home. Imprudencies as to 
the kind of food, or of excess in its quantity, should be 
as carefully avoided by the invalid while using the water, 
as when under treatment by other medical means, This 
however is by no means commonly the case. 

The use of the water generally removes acidity from 
the stomach and sharpens both the appetite and the diges- 
tion ) hence it is often really difficult for the invalid to 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 78 

restrain himself at table, and we might be astonished to see 
the quantity and quality of food he sometimes consumes. 
Dyspeptics, as might be expected, suffer most from impro- 
priety in diet : indeed we are persuaded that more than 
half the good this water would otherwise achieve in such 
cases, is prevented by impropriety in diet. But the evil of 
over and improper feeding, although, most manifest in 
dyspeptics, is by no means confined to such. Upon the 
subject of diet Dr. John Bell has well observed, that 
u slow and laborious digestion, heartburn, disordered kid- 
neys, discoloration of the skin, and some affections of the 
liver, often the effects of excessive eating and drinking 
alone, are not to be readily cured by visiting mineral 
springs, and keeping up the same kind of living/' If they, 
and the remark applies to all invalids, be sincerely desi- 
rous of gaining health, they will most successfully do so 
by simplifying their regimen, and abstaining from all 
those appliances to force appetite and tickle the taste 
which they had formerly used in the shape of ardent spi- 
rits, wine, and malt liquors, fried meats, pastry, and unripe 
fruits. In fine, we may sum up in a few words, by repeat- 
ing after the great father of medicine, that all excesses are 
dangerous ; a maxim every one must have fully tested. 

Eating much in the evening, sitting up late, prolonged 
and immoderate dancing, remaining too long in the cool 
air of the evening, are often the cause of many unplea- 
sant complaints, which might have been easily prevented. 

The passions are to be kept in check by avoiding every 
exciting cause, either of the boisterous or melancholy 
kind. A giddy chas« after pleasure and luxurious indul- 

E 



74 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

gence, are scarcely more reprehensible than an indolent 
and secluded life. The kind and amount of exercise to 
be indulged in by the patient, must of course be regulated 
by the nature of his disease and the attendant circumstan- 
ces : walking, riding on horseback or in a carriage, may 
be selected, as one or the other may be best adapted to 
the physical ability, and to the inclinations of the patient ; 
but in some form or other, all whose strength will admit 
of it should take regular exercise in good weather. 



CHAPTER V. 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DISEASES IN WHICH THE WHITE 
® SULPHUR WATERS HAVE BEEN FOUND SUCCESSFUL, 
WITH DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR USE. 



All Mineral waters, as before remarked, are stimulants 
to a greater or less degree, and, consequently are inappli- 
cable to the treatment of acute, or highly inflammatory 
diseases. This remark is especially true as relates to the 
White sulphur, particularly when drunk fresh at the 
spring, and abounding in its stimulating gas. It is true, 
as before shown, that when its exciting gas has flown off, 
it becomes far less stimulating, and may be used with 
safety and success in cases, to which in its perfectly fresh 
state, it would be totally unadapted. But even in its 
least stimulating form, it is inadmissible for excited or 
febrile conditions of the system ; and especially to cases 
of inflammatory action; — at least, until the violence of 
such action has been subdued by other and appropriate 
agents. 

It is to chronic affections of the organic system that 
the White sulphur water is peculiarly applicable. 

Various diseases of the stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys, 
and bladder, as well as some derangements of the brain 
and nervous system generally, are treated successfully by 



76 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

this agent. To the various affections of the skin, unat- 
tended with active inflammation ; to chronic affections 
of the bowels, and to gout and rheumatism, it is well 
adapted. In haemorrhoids ; in some of the chronic affec- 
tions of the womb ; in chlorosis and other kindred female 
disorders; in mercurial sequelae, and especially in the 
secondary forms of lues, and ill-conditioned ulcers in && 
praved constitutions, it constitutes the most valuable agent 
to which the invalid can resort. 

If the individual about to submit himself to the use of 
this water, is suffering from fullness and tension about the 
head, or pain with a sense of tightness in the chest or 
side ; he should obtain relief from these symptoms before 
entering upon its use. If his tongue be white, or heavily 
coated; or, if he be continuously or periodically feverish, 
or have that peculiar lassitude, with gastric distress, 
manifesting recent or acute biliary accumulations, he 
should avoid its use until, by proper medical treatment, 
his biliary organs are emulged, and his system prepared 
for its reception. Much suffering, on the one hand, 
would be avoided, and a far larger amount of good, on 
the other, would be achieved, if visitors were perfectly 
aware of, and carefully mindful of these facts. 

It is an every-day occurrence during the watering sea- 
son at the "White," for persons to seek medical advice, 
for the first time, after they have been using the water 
for days, perhaps for weeks, and it is then sought because 
of vagrant operations, or injurious effects of the water. 
In most such cases there will be found, upon examination, 
either the existence of some of the symptoms just men- 



DISEASES— DIRECTIONS; 77 

tioned, or evidences of local inflammation in some part 
of the body, sufficient to prevent the constitutional efficacy 
of the remedy. We are often struck with the control 
which an apparently inconsiderable local inflammation 
will exert in preventing the constitutional effects of 
mineral waters. To remove such local determinations 
where they exist, or greatly to lessen their activity, is all- 
important to secure the constitutional effects of sulphur 
water. 

It is necessary to reflect that Mineral Waters, like all 
medicinal substances, are adapted only to certain diseases, 
and that the more powerfully they act, the greater mis- 
chief they are capable of doing if improperly adminis- 
tered; for, if it be asserted that they are capable of 
doing good only, without the power of doing harm, we 
may be satisfied that their qualities are too insignificant 
to merit notice. 

This consideration indicates the necessity of some cau- 
tion in the use of waters which possess any sanative 
powers, and suggests the propriety in all doubtful cases, 
of consulting some professional man familiar with the 
subject whose judgment may determine how far the water 
is applicable to each individual case, and in what manner 
it should be employed to be most efficacious. 

A long list of successful cases that have fallen under 
my care, adapted to illustrate the beneficial effects of these 
waters, in some of the more general and important mala- 
dies, might perhaps, without impropriety, be inserted 
here ; but I am induced to omit the insertion, because I 
am aware with what suspicion medical cases, however well 



78 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

authenticated, are received from an individual, when they 
are given to favor any particular practice, or to recommend 
any particular water. Besides, the insertion of names is 
objectionable in all private practice, and I consider the 
reputation of the waters to be now too well established 
to require such assistance. 

But, anxious to obviate all possibility of mistake, and 
to prevent the reputation of a remedy so well deserving 
public confidence from being sullied by failures, on account 
of misapplication and improper collateral treatment, I 
shall add to a catalogue of the leading diseases to which 
these Mineral Springs are more immediately adapted, a 
few succinct directions for the rational observance of such 
cautions as well be most likely to increase their salutary 
efficacy. And this, from local situation, and the ample 
experience of near twenty years, I flatter myself, I am in 
some measure capable of doing. 

Dyspepsia. 

In this common and annoying disease, consisting in 
derangement of function in the organs of digestion, the 
White sulphur water has long maintained a high charac- 
ter. In this affection, especially in its confirmed stage, 
we almost invariably find the biliary secretions either 
vitiated in quality or deficient in quantity ; constituting 
an important, and not unfrequently an embarrassing, fea- 
ture in its treatment : nor can we ordinarily succeed in 
effecting a cure, until the secretory functions of the liver 
are restored to a natural and healthy condition. 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 79 

The beneficial effects of this water in dyspepsia, seeni 
to result mainly from its sanative action upon the liver. 
To alter ate the secretory functions of that organ, and 
establish a flow of healthy bile, is one of the great fortes 
of the water, and almost an invariable result of its perse- 
vering use. 

That the water benefits the stomach in many cases by 
a primary action, — first, as an alkali and stimulant, neu- 
tralizing its acidity, and imparting directly a tone and 
energy to the viscus — and, secondly, by a positive influ- 
ence on its glandular structure, occasioning a healthy 
flow of gastric juice, we do not doubt. Still, the most 
decided and permanent benefits derived by dyspeptics, 
have always seemed to us to be the result of full altera- 
tive impressions upon the liver. Certain it is, that with- 
out such an influence upon that organ, the dyspeptic can 
never be confident of the permanency of his relief. It 
would be well for sufferers under this distressing malady 
to bear this in mind, and not abandon the use of the 
water, as many do, until it has fully impressed the liver ; 
nor be discouraged at its apparent want of efficacy until 
it has been used sufficiently long to effect this object. 

In the course of our observations, we have often 
alluded to the alterative effects of sulphur water on the 
liver as affording a most important indication of its effi- 
cacy. It may be asked, how shall it be known when 
this alterative effect has taken place ? We reply, you 
are to judge of this mainly by the character of the ex- 
cretions, and by all the indications by which you judge 
of the alterative effects of mercury upon the same organ. 



80 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

Dyspeptics often grievously err in the use of the 
water, by mistaking its primary effects, which are gen- 
erally transitory, for a permanent cure ; and hence aban- 
don it before its permanent sanative action has been 
obtained. Such patients not unfrequently, after taking 
the water for a week or ten days, find that the acidity 
of the stomach has been relieved, their appetite in- 
creased, and that they are able to "eat every thing 
before theni." This is all very well, as far as it goes, 
and if their attack be recent and slight, this comfortable 
state of things may continue ; but it will much oftener 
turn out to be merely the alkaline and stimulant influ- 
ence of the water upon the coats of the stomach, impart- 
ing this generous tone to the viscus for a season, and 
which in all probability is destined to lure them into an 
excess of diet and other imprudences, which will, ere 
long, develope to them the fact, that the monster was 
"scotched, not killed." 

The importance of the subject urges us to repeat, that 
the confirmed dyspeptic cannot too forcibly impress upon 
his mind, the essential practical truth, that the alterative 
influences of the water must be exerted upon his system 
before he can have assurance of permanent good from 
its use. 

As costiveness and irregularity of, bowels are generally 
found in dyspepsia, some of the warm laxatives may be 
occasionally used for a short time after commencing the 
use of the water. And, as the disease is seldom unac- 
companied * by chronic obstructions^ or at least a torpid 
secretion in the liver, it will generally be found advisable 



DISEASES— DIRECTIONS. 81 

to combine a slight mercurial with the medicine, in- 
tended to act slowly on the bowels, and for this purpose 
pills, composed of aloes, ex. colocynth and blue mass, 
taken in such doses as to keep up a regular peristallic 
motion in the bowels, will be found to answer yery well. 
At the same time, it will be found advantageous to use 
some of the bitter vegetable tonics a short time before 
each meal. 

The water, as a general rule in dyspepsia, should be 
taken in moderate or small quantities, and with less or 
more of its gaseous contents, agreeably to the excitability 
of the system, and the amount of excitation which it 
may be desirable to produce. From four to eight glasses 
in the course of the day is the quantity that is gen- 
erally found most serviceable in dyspeptic cases. 

Where the nervous system bears the fresh water with 
impunity, we prefer that the dyspeptic take it soon after 
it has been removed from the spring. With many, how- 
ever, there is found too much excitability for the water 
perfectly fresh; such, therefore, should use it more or 
less stale, as their system will bear it. 

GrASTRALGiA, or Nervous Dyspepsia, is a form of dis- 
ease occasionally met with at our watering places, and is 
an affection often of difficult and uncertain management, 
whatever be the remedies employed. When it is purely 
functional and disconnected with organic lesion, the 
White sulphur, administered in moderate quantities, and 
in its least stimulating form, is a safe, and sometimes an 
efficacious remedy. We usually prefer, however, to con- 



82 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

tinue its use, at first, no longer than may be necessary to 
bring the bowels and the secretory action of the liver 
under its influence, and then give the patient the advan- 
tage of the tonic influence of the waters of the Sweet, 
or Red Chalybeate, and their champaigne baths, Ad- 
vantage is often derived by alternating during the 
season between the latter springs and the White, or 
some other sulphur water. 

Pyrosis, or Water Brash, is another form of stomach 
disease, in which this water is occasionally used, and 
sometimes with very good effects. Indeed, it is rarely 
used in water brash without benefit. In this form of 
disease, the water should never be taken in large and 
often repeated draughts : from such a course increased 
debility of the stomach, with other deleterious conse- 
quences, would rarely fail to follow. 

When good reasons exist for supposing the stomach to 
be schirrous or cancerous, the patient should carefully 
abstain from the use of this, or any of our mineral 
waters. Two cases have come under our notice, in which 
much injury was received from their use, one from the 
Alum water, the other from this. 

It is scarcely necessary to say to the intelligent reader, 
that dyspepsia is rarely cured, whatever be the remedies 
used, without a careful attention to diet. By care in 
diet, we by no means wish to be understood, that the 
patient is to confine himself to the stereotyped recipe of 
" black tea and toast/' and other light slops — the ten- 
dency of which is rather to enervate ihan invigorate the 



DISEASES— DIRECTIONS. 83 

stomach — or that, in his mind's eye, he is ever to be 
weighing or measuring the quantity of food he is to 
consume at each meal. It has rarely been our good 
fortune to see any one cured of confirmed dyspepsia, 
who had been long kept on the miserably attenuated 
debilitating slops, so often recommended for such ; and 
especially one who weighs, if not his appetite, at least 
his aptitude to eat by avoirdupois. The fastidious par- 
ticularity secundum artem, in such cases, that is often 
witnessed, serves admirably to impress upon a mind 
disposed from the nature of the case to be distempered, 
the appalling truth that mortal disease is ever threaten- 
ing ; to induce low spirits and despondency, and to 
superadd new horrors to a disease of itself sufficiently 
horrible. 

The diet in dyspepsia should always be appropriate to 
the wants and ability of the stomach. In a majority of 
cases, the dyspeptic will more readily digest the lighter 
meats than the vegetable matter, upon which they gen- 
erally feed; and in such case there is nothing more 
proper than light meats. Fresh eggs, properly prepared, 
may always be taken. Coarse rye bread is often the 
best diet of the kind. When wheat bread is used, it 
should always be well lightened and stale. Bread of 
corn, popular as a diet in Virginia, is found to agree 
admirably with some dyspeptics. Milk, as a general 
rule, is not only harmless but useful. Vegetables, 
whether dressed or undressed, in their simple state, or 
manufactured into pies, tarts, sweet-meats, &c, &c, 
must be repudiated. The same of soups, gravies, molten 



84 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

butter, &c. After all, however, there is no one who can 
judge of diet for the dyspeptic like the dyspeptic him- 
self. Let such carefully examine themselves, and espe- 
cially the effects of different articles of diet upon their 
system, and they may without mistake settle down upon 
those that are most beneficial. The true and only secret 
upon this subject is, to eat nothing that disagrees, and 
any thing does not. 

Diseases of the Liver. 

The liver is the largest gland in the human body and 
the first to exhibit development in the foetal state. It 
exists in almost every variety of animals, even in those 
whose other organs are very imperfectly developed. Its 
great size, its early and relative development in the foetus, 
and the complicated charaeter of its vascular machinery, 
all point it out as an organ of immense importance in the 
animal economy, and renders the opinion very probable, 
which has been long entertained by physiologists, that 
it performs other functions and offices in the body 
besides the daily secretion of a small quantity of bile. 

The amount of bile secreted by the liver in twenty- 
four hours, in an ordinary healthy condition of the 
body, is said not to exceed six or eight ounces — a rela- 
tive amount altogether inadequate to its vast size and 
vascularity, in contrast with any other gland of the body. 
It serves as a central termination of the black blood of 
the abdomen, as the lungs do of the blood of the general 
system — a peculiarity which distinguishes it from every 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 85 

other gland of the body, and renders it probable that, 
like the lungs, it exerts a peculiar influence upon the 
circulating fluid. 

The variety of forms and phases under which liver 
complaints exist, and the sympathies by which the liver 
is connected with other organs and tissues of the body, 
demand the careful consideration of the medical prac- 
titioner in making up his diagnosis, and must always be 
duly weighed in forming his prognosis as to the results of 
clinical effort. 

The sympathy between the liver and stomach is con- 
stantly remarked, and is often so intense as to cause the 
practitioner to doubt as to which of the organs is the 
primary seat of disease. Indeed, the symptoms attend- 
ing biliary derangements are so easily mistaken for, and 
so generally accompanied by derangements of the other 
digestive organs, as often to mislead both the patient and 
his medical adviser. Hence it is that liver disease and 
dyspepsia are so often confounded, and the intelligent 
physician unable clearly to determine which of these 
organs was the original seat of the malady. 

The sympathy between the liver and brain has long 
been observed. In functional or structural derangements 
of the liver, there are few symptoms more constantly 
present than vertigo, head ache, or disturbance of the 
mental faculties. So constantly do these disturbances of 
the mental functions exist in liver complaints, that they 
present one of the leading diagnostic symptoms of the 
existence of the disease. It has long been observed 
that intense thought, or any strong emotion of the 



86 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

mind, will derange the biliary secretions. Fear, grief, 
and the other depressing passions, lessen ; while anger, 
hope, joy, &c, increase and sustain a rapid flow of bile. 
Diseases of the liver not uncommonly assume " the ap- 
pearance of pulmonic affections, and sometimes end in 
actual disease of the lungs. Doubtless this is often 
owing to the encroachment of the liver on the lungs, 
when the former is morbidly enlarged — thus disturbing 
the respiratory functions; or an irritation may extend 
itself from the former to the latter, and assume all the 
symptoms of an original idiopathic affection, while the 
original malady lies concealed. 

Chronic Hepatitis is a very common disease in this 
country, especially in our warmer latitudes and mias- 
matic districts. In its least complicated form it is char- 
acterized pathologically by a plethora or congested state 
of the vascular system of the liver, accompanied, of 
course, by derangements of the biliary functions and of 
the nervous system of the organ. Its approaches are 
generally slow and insidious, and often the health is 
entirely undermined before the sufferer is fully aware of 
his danger. For, without any symptoms of severe indis- 
position, it will often run on to suppuration or organic 
induration of the viscus, before its existence is suspected. 

I once saw a patient, (a young man,) whose first seri- 
ous concern for his condition was occasioned by the 
bursting of an abscess in his liver. He died a few 
hours afterwards, and a post niQrterrL examination revealed 
the fact that his liver had been so entirely absorbed as to 
leave only a very small portion investing the gall bladder. 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 87 

Chronic inflammation of the liver seldom goes for a 
great while without producing important mischief in the 
organs, occasionally resulting in abscess or tubercles, but 
more generally in indurating the structure or enlarging 
the volume of the viscus, constituting what is termed 
" enlarged liver" schirrous liver, &c. 

While this chronic inflammation, obstruction, or im- 
paired function of the liver is going on, they occasion 
indigestion, flatulence, a tenderness or pain in the right 
hypochondrium, which pain is often extended to the 
right scapula or top of the shoulder, but occasionally in 
the back, or on the left side over the region of the heart, 
(Johnson.) To these symptoms are usually added an 
unpleasant sense of distension about the stomach, acidity, 
inability to lie comfortably on the left side, with pale or 
sallow complexion, and a gradual diminution of the flesh 
and strength. 

In the beginning of these affections, the bowels are 
generally constipated, the feces being at one time of a 
dark and at another of a lighter color than natural. As 
the disease advances, it sometimes ends in diarrhoea or 
dysenteric irritation. 

Listlessness, languor and aversion to enterprise are 
characteristics of the disease. The sufferer delights to 
detail the misery of his case, and contemplates it ordi- 
narily in its most unfavorable results. Wherever we 
find derangements of the hepatic functions, we find low 
spirits, irritability of temper, fickleness, timidity and 
hypochondriacism to a greater or less extent, and this 



88 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

irrespective of the high, natural order or cultivation of 
the mind of the sufferer. 

The White sulphur water acts specifically upon the 
secretory organs, and especially upon the liver. 

We have already, in another part of this volume, 
shewn the striking similarity of action between mercury 
and sulphur waters upon the animal economy. In no- 
thing is this more manifest than in their operations on 
the liver. 

The - modus operandi of sulphur water upon this viscus 
is dissimilar, we conceive, from that of mercury, and yet 
the effects of the two agents are strikingly analogous. 
The potent and controlling influences of the water over 
the secretory functions of the liver, must be regarded as 
a specific quality of the agent, and as constituting an 
important therapeutical feature in the value of the article 
for diseases of this organ. Its influence upon this gland 
is gradually but surely to unload it when engorged, and 
to stimulate it to a healthy exercise of its functions 
when torpid. The control which it may be made to 
exercise over the liver, in correcting and restoring its 
energies, is often as astonishing as it is gratifying — estab- 
lishing a copious flow of healthy bile, and a consequent 
activity of the bowels — imparting vigor to the whole 
digestive and assimilative functions, and consequently 
energy and strength to the body, and life and elasticity 
to the spirits. 

Attention was directed at an early period in the his- 
tory of mineral waters, to theii\controlling influence over 
diseases of the liver, and by the best informed practi- 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 89 

tioners both of Europe and this country, sulphur waters 
have always been favorite remedies in the treatment of 
that class of affections. 

The celebrated Dr. Armstrong, although of cool dis- 
criminating and well balanced mind, was so much de- 
voted to their use in chronic inflammations and conges- 
tions of the liver, that some of his contemporaries, less 
practised in their use, thought him infatuated upon the 
subject. He preferred them, most decidedly, as an inde- 
pendent remedy, to mercury in all its forms ; but very 
properly observes, that in some cases it will be found 
best to combine the operation of the two agents at the 
same time. 

For many years we have kept a case booh at the "White 
Sulphur, and have carefully noted the influence of the 
water upon such diseases as have been submitted to our 
management. Among the number are several hundred 
cases of chronic affections of the liver, embracing disease 
of simple excitement, chronic inflammation, congestion, 
engorgement and obstruction to the biliary ducts, &c, &c. 
These cases were all treated either with the White sul- 
phur water alone, or aided by some other appropriate 
alterative remedy, and in looking at the results, we must 
be permitted to express a doubt whether a larger relative 
amount of amendments and cures have ever been effected 
by the usual resources of the medical shop. This we 
know is high eulogy of sulphur water in such diseases. 
It is considerately made, and is not higher than their 
merits deserve. 

It is proper that those affected with liver disease, (and 



90 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

they constitute no small portion of the population, in 
certain districts of our south-western territory,) should 
know something of the confidence they may place in 
these waters for relief. 

Volumes might be filled with details of gratifying 
results that have taken place in the cases of invalids, 
from almost every section of the country, who visited 
these waters as a sort of " last resort" for liver disease. 
And hundreds of delighted witnesses may be found, 
especially in the warmer regions of the south, who bear 
a willing and grateful testimony to their utility in such 
cases. 

Let us not be understood, however, as advancing the 
opinion, that sulphur water will cure every case of chronic 
liver disease. Far from it. We have already stated 
elsewhere, that mineral waters will sometimes fail in 
chronic diseases of disordered action only. This, it is 
most probable, happens in cases where the blood-vessels 
have been so long distended as to have lost their power 
of returning to their natural state. Besides, it will hap- 
pen, that among the number of invalids that crowd our 
watering places, seeking relief from this common affec- 
tion, many will be found, in whose livers organic lesions 
have already taken place. In such, perfect cures need 
not be expected, either by sulphur waters or any other 
agents. 

In another part of this volume,* the importance of 
using mild alterative cathartic medicines, in connection 

* See Chapter IV. — On tlie Use of Medicines. 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 91 

with the sulphur water, has been distinctly stated. In a 
large majority of cases, in commencing the use of the 
water, perhaps in nine out of ten, decided advantage will 
accrue, to the patient, by taking every third or fourth 
night, the Compound Cathartic Pill, composed of Colo- 
cynth, Blue Mass and Ant. Tartar; or, if the liver be 
obstinate, Calomel may be substituted for the Blue Mass 
in forming the pill, using half the quantity that is di- 
rected for the latter. 

In obstinate cases, or in those in which the use of 
Mercury is admissible, the Nitro Muriatic Bath may 
be resorted to with good effect. It may be prepared as 
follows : Mix Nitric and Muriatic Acids together in equal 
quantities, and pour two ounces of the mixture into 2J 
gallons of warm water, in a narrow wooden bucket. The 
feet and legs of the patient ought to be immersed in this 
bath, made of the temperature of blood heat, and kept 
there for twenty or thirty minutes, every night before 
going to bed. The same bath will remain good for three 
or four nights. The region of the liver may be sponged 
night and morning with the same, or a similar mixture. 
The bath should be increased or diminished in strength, 
according to the age, strength, or peculiarities of the 
patient. I have seen this bath, unaided by any other 
means, produce heavy bilious operations, such as are 
commonly produced from decided mercurials. 

Jaundice. — Jaundice is a form of liver disease in 
which the White sulphur water is used with very happy 
effects. 



92 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

This affection is characterized by a yellow tinge of the 
skin generally, and particularly of the tunico conjunc- 
tiva : deep yellow or brown color of the urine, pale or 
clay-like color of the stools, sense of languor and lassitude, 
with depression of spirits and a disinclination to exercise. 
A sense of weight or uneasiness is often felt about the 
pit of the stomach, while the bowels are costive and the 
urine very high colored. 

The cause of this disease has always been considered 
to be obstructions of some kind or other to the free egress 
of the bile from the excretory ducts of the liver. Most 
commonly, these obstructions are occasioned by inspissated 
bile or calculous concretions within the gall ducts them- 
selves : occasionally from spasmodic constrictions of the 
biliferious tubes ; and now and then from external pres- 
sure by tumours on the liver itself, or some neighboring 
part. 

When the obstruction arises from inspissated bile or 
very small calculi, or from spasm of the gall ducts them- 
selves, the disease is comparatively easily relieved; and 
such cases are generally cured by the White sulphur 
water with certainty, in a few weeks. 

When, however, the obstructing calculi is large, and 
the spasm and irritation considerable, the disease is not 
only more tedious, but the measure of relief from the 
water more uncertain. 

The use of mercurial aperients, especially small doses 
of calomel with aloes, or col. and ant., which, while 
they clear the bowels, excite the biliary ducts, are gene- 
rally valuable adjuvants to the water. Advantage is also I 






DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 93 

derived, especially in the declining stage of the disease, 
from the bitter vegetable infusions, such as camomile, 
gentian or quassia. The Nitro-Mwriatic bath is a rem- 
edy of much promise in this disease, and should not be 
overlooked in obstinate cases. 

Chronic Enlargement of the Spleen. — Disor- 
der and enlargement of the spleen are very often met 
with at all our watering places. For many years we 
have carefully noted the operation of the White sulphur 
water in such cases. Unaided by other means, it has 
not altogether realized the high hopes which we once had 
of it. Satisfied of the great advantage — we might say 
absolute necessity in many cases- — of urging a treatment 
more active than the water alone, we now rarely rely on 
it to the exclusion of other agents. 

The preparations of iodine, used both internally and 
externally, are valuable adjuncts to the water in these 
cases. We have in some instances derived the happiest 
effects from large closes of quinine; and often find it 
necessary to aid the purgative operations of the water in 
these cases, by the use of mild cathartics. 

Chronic Irritation of the Bowels. 

Our note book exhibits a variety of cases of disorders 
of the alimentary canal, which were treated by this 
water. They were generally connected with chronic irri- 
tation or inflammation, and attended with mucous or 
! serous discharges from the bowels. 



94 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

In such affections, attended with frequent or copious 
serous dejections, sulphur water, if admissible at all, 
should be used with great care, and in small portions at a 
time. In cases attended with much irritability of the 
canal, we have found the water entirely inadmissible. 

Somewhat less difficulty is presented in mucous diar- 
rhoea, and the action of the water is often favorable. 
We sometimes find an affection of the mucous coat of 
the bowels, especially in persons from the warmer regions 
of our country, connected with functional derangements 
of the stomach and liver; and, in such cases, it will 
usually be found, that in proportion as the tone of the 
former, and the healthful secretions of the latter are 
restored, the morbid condition of the bowels ceases. In 
no class of cases, however, if we except diseases of the 
lungs, is more prudence demanded in the administration 
of the water than in irritated conditions of the bowels. 
When judiciously and cautiously prescribed, the agent is 
not only a safe, but a valuable remedy in several diseases 
of this class ; but when used, as it sometimes most im- 
prudently is, in cases attended with exalted irritation, 
or ulceration of the coats of the bowels, the most pre- 
judicial consequences may result. 

In connection with the water in this class of diseases, 
we often, and with excellent effect, use warm emollient 
cataplasms, with the internal administration of some mild 
alterative and soothing medicine. 

To warm sulphur bathing in such cases, much confi- 
dence is due. To be safely and successfully employed, 



DISEASES — DIRECTK)NS. 95 

the bath should be carefully adapted, both as to time 
and temperature, to the demands of the case. 

We know that it is usual to decry the use of sulphur 
waters in bowel complaints. We admit that those who 
enter at random, and without proper discrimination, upon 
their employment in such cases, will often have cause for 
regret. But we venture, nevertheless, to aver, that in 
many cases of chronic irritation of the bowels, attended 
with diarrhoea, they are, when properly administered, not 
only safe, but a valuable remedy. 

Costiyeness. — In costiveness dependent upon defi- 
cient or depraved biliary secretions, great confidence may 
be placed in the persevering use of the water, especially 
if it be aided by the occasional administration of small 
mercurials combined with taraxicum and rhubarb. 

Where great paucity or deficiency of bile exists, the 
inspissated ox gall is found to be useful. It may be 
taken in pills, in quantity of 10 or 15 grains daily, with 
a little taraxicum and rhubarb. 

In costiveness from general inertia of the alimentary 
canal, there is less cause to be pleased with the efficiency 
of the White sulphur water. Such cases are commonly 
found connected with great languor of the body and gen- 
eral nervous irritability. The use of the sulphur baths, 
of a temperature from 98 to 106 should be employed in 
such cases, in connection with the water, which should 
be drunk as freely as the stomach will bear it, morning, 
noon and night, unless it run off by the kidneys; in 



96 WHITi; SULPHUR SrRINGS. 

which case it ought to be entirely suspended for a day, 
and an active cathartic taken before its use is resumed. 

Piles.— The use of mild laxatives in haemorrhoids has 
been so long a favorite practice, that nothing need be 
said here in its favor. The beneficial effects of this water 
in Piles, are doubtless, in some degree, owing to its mild 
purgative operations, but to a still greater extent, to its 
alterative action. In most cases of this disorder, the 
liver is more or less implicated, and the relief of that 
viscus brings relief to the hemorrhoidal vessels. We 
will only add, that both in the common and hlind piles, 
the water is advantageously used, but more especially in 
the latter. 



Diseases of the Urinary Organs. 



Incipient Calculous affections are occasionally submit- 
ted to the use of this water, and for such cases it has 
long maintained a reputation. Cases are said to have 
occurred, though none such have come under our observa- 
tion, in which it displayed litlwntriptic qualities. 

The palliative effects of the water in calculous affec- 
tions are often experienced to the great comfort of the 
sufferer ; but it is only, we believe, in the earlier stages 
of such affections, that it can be regarded as better than 
a palliative. 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 97 

Chronic Inflammation of the Kidneys, as well as sim- 
ilar affections of the Bladder and Urethra, are often 
successfully treated by this water. We deem it our duty 
to allude to a very common error in the manner of using 
the water in these affections. We have reference to the 
practice of drinking it in large quantities, with the view 
of establishing copious discharges from the kidneys. By 
an imprudence of this kind, the cure of the case is not 
only often prevented, but lasting injury inflicted in a 
superadded debility of the organs. 

In these cases, the water should be so used as to keep 
up a gentle diuretic action for several weeks, carefully 
guarding against excessive discharges of this kind. 

Diabetes. — The nature of Diabetes is so imperfectly 
understood, that medical men do not agree as to the part 
of the body "in which it is primarily situated. Some sup- 
pose that the kidneys are the original seat of the disease ; 
others that it depends on the state of the stomach 5 while 
it has been imputed by others to a diseased state of the 
blood. Its exciting causes are numerous, such as over- 
bodily or mental exercise, use of spirituous liquors, ex- 
cessive or improper indulgences, the depressing passions, 
&c. It is commonly connected with a depraved and 
shattered constitution, and it is often difficult, when phy- 
sicians are consulted, to say whether it be the cause or 
the consequence of the constitutional deprivation. 

It is often attended with indigestion, general debility, 
constipation of the bowels, thirst, dryness of the skin, 
and irregular, capricious, and sometimes voracious appe- 



98 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

tite. Its pathognomic symptom is a great increase in 
the flow of urine, which is generally of a pale straw 
color, sometimes insipid,, but oftener of a sweetish taste 
and faint smell resembling that of violets, and contain- 
ing a considerable quantity of sugar. 

Cases of Diabetes have not been very numerous at the 
" White," but they have occasionally . come under my 
observation. One of great interest fell under my notice 
some years since, in the person of Mr. S., a very intelli- 
gent gentleman from the State of Georgia. He was 
greatly emaciated, from the effects of the disease, but 
after using the water for some ten days, he commenced 
improving, and regained his flesh at the rate of a pound 
a day for a number of days. Another case was so far 
relieved last summer as to give me confidence in its 
ultimate recovery. 

In Diabetes, the water should be administered in small 
and oft-repeated doses. The diet should be the most 
nourishing kinds of animal food, and in quantities suited 
to the strength of the digestive powers. The tincture 
of iron is useful in connection with the waters, and the 
hot sulphur bath is a valuable adjunct in such cases. 

Amenorrhea, Dysmenorrhoea, and Atonic Leucor- 
rhcea, are sometimes submitted to the use of the White 
sulphur water. For these disorders, considered spe- 
cifically, we would not prefer this water. It is inferior 
in efficacy to many other remedies that might be em- 
ployed. We often, however, fhld these affections con- 
nected^ with a peculiar state of the general system, 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 99 

rendering it a valuable adjunct in their treatment. As 
a general rule, either local or general depletion, or both, 
as may be necessary, is required to precede the use of 
the water in these affections, when they are found con- 
nected with general plethora of the system, or with 
congestion in the uterine region. During the use of 
the water, the important auxiliary of warm sulphur 
baths should not be neglected. 

Sufferers from the diseases under consideration should 
not lose sight of the potent influences which the baths 
at the Hot Springs are so well calculated to produce. 
Many who are languishing under the blighting influences 
of these affections, might, doubtless, find a sure and 
speedy relief from a few weeks' use of these valuable 
agents. 

Chronic Affections . op the Brain. 

Many interesting cases of chronic inflammation and 
congestion of portions of the cerebral mass, are met with 
at the White Sulphur. 

It is only since the discovery of the successful use 
that may be made of the water, after being deprived of 
its stimulating gas, that it has been prescribed advan- 
tageously in affections of the brain. We have never, 
indeed, seen a case of inflammation of this organ, in 
which the fresh water could be borne. When it is care- 
fully deprived of its gas, however, either by heating or 
by being kept for a sufficient length of time in an open 



100 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

vessel, it agrees well with such affections, and we have 
in many instances prescribed it with the most happy 
results. Mr. B., whose case we referred to in another 
part of this volume, had been for more than a year 
under the care of distinguished physicians for the relief 
of chronic inflammation of the brain, without having 
derived any permanent benefit, was cured by four weeks' 
use of the ungaseous water. In this case it was care- 
fully deprived of its gas by being heated nearly to the 
boiling point, and suffered to cool before using. This 
gentleman attempted repeatedly during the progress of 
his case, to use water that had stood twelve or eighteen 
hours from the spring, but found it too exciting, and 
was forced in each instance to return to the heated 
water. 

Mr. M. arrived at the White Sulphur in June, 1839, 
laboring under agonizing distress in the head, attended 
at intervals with partial derangement, and with horrid 
threatenings of confirmed mania constantly before him. 
Cups were repeatedly applied to the base of the cranium, 
gentle cathartics were administered for a few days, and 
the water perfectly deprived if its gas was perse veringly 
pressed. In six days it became obvious that Mr. M. was 
improving, and in four weeks he left the Springs entirely 
restored. He has visited his "old benefactor/' as he 
terms the White, every year since, and it is gratifying 
to know that his cure was in every respect complete and 
permanent. 

Many cases might be mentioned not essentially dis- 
similar from the two just noticed, but we deem it unne- 



DISEASES— DIRECTIONS. 101 

eessary. The efficacy of the water in chronic inflam- 
mation of the brain has been rendered as obvious to us 
as its efficiency in similar inflammations of other organs. 

Nervous Diseases. 

The great increase of nervous diseases within the last 
decade must have attracted the attention of every ob- 
servant individual. 

Neuralgia, in one form or another, has become the 
prevailing disease of the whole country. It has been but 
a few years since it was only known among us as a tooth- 
ache from a denuded nerve, or in the form of the erratic 
but twinging Tic-dou-lou-reux. Now it is not only the 
common, but the fashionable, disease of the country. 
Once it was the peculiar privilege of the wealthy and 
the luxrious to boast of their neuralgia, as the parvenu 
does of his gout ; but now, the poorest, most unpretend- 
ing subject can have his full share of this aristocratic 
affection. Formerly, a vulgar rheumatism took posses- 
sion of the extremities, while a still more vulgar dyspep- 
sia, claimed the dominion of the stomach. But, how 
changed. Neuralgia now takes the limbs, and gastralgia 
the primse vie. Formerly, a fashionable lady, to in- 
duce a reluctant husband or father to make a pilgrimage 
to a fashionable watering place, was driven to a vulgar 
dyspepsia to effect the object; now, a "little neuralgia" 
which may be located just at her pleasure, will answer 
every purpose. 



102 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

But ; soberly, we are, and have been for ten years, 
living tinder the reign of a nervous diathesis, which 
literally obliges every species of disease, acute and 
chronic, to wear its livery. The revolution that it has 
effected in the type and the treatment of disease is won- 
derful. To a large extent, even our fevers obey its 
behests, and hence inflammatory and bilious have almost 
given way in our nomenclature to nervous and typhoid. 

In every acute disease, we are admonished that there 
is a prevailing constitution that inhibits the lancet and 
other rapid depletory practice, that so distinguished our 
country within the present generation. 

The most apathetic are now obliged to yield to the 
reign of the nerves, and look around for a placebo that 
was formerly allotted to the most effeminate alone. 

The various nervous affections, such as neuralgia, hypo- 
chondria, hysterics, chorea, &c, &c, are not unfrequently 
met with at the springs. Sometimes as primary or in- 
dependent diseases, but more frequently in connection 
with derangements of the digestive organs. The direct 
influence of the water in restoring the tone and energy 
of the general system, by removing obstructions and 
correcting the functional derangements of the organs, 
obviously point to it as a remedy in the latter class of 
cases. The invigorating effects of the salubrious and 
charming climate in which the spring is situated, and, 
we might add, the advantage of the exercise necessary 
to reach it, are efficient auxiliaries in such cases. 

In nervous diseases, especially under exalted nervous 
excitement, the water should almost invariably be used 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 103 

in small quantities at first, and in its least stimulating 
form; that is, after it has been deprived of its gas by 
standing at least twelve hours in an open vessel. In 
many cases it is indispensable that it should be suffered 
to stand even for twenty-four hours, or be gently heated, 
that its gas may be entirely thrown off before it is used. 

It was in nervous cases, many years ago, that I was 
led to appreciate the advantage of administering the 
water in its unstimulating form; a practice that has 
effected a triumph over the former method of using it 
fresh from the spring, as complete as it has been bene- 
ficial to thousands of nervous individuals. After thus 
using it a few days, the patient will probably bear it 
fresh from the spring, and when such a tolerance is 
established, there is no objection to its being thus taken. 

In simple or independent affections of the nerves, 
(those that do not depend upon disease in other regards,) 
the waters of the Sweet and Red Sweet Springs are a 
valuable remedy. Indeed, in noxious disorders gener- 
ally, whatever be their cause, the bracing influence of 
those waters, especially the delightful hath that is found 
at either of these places, will prove eminently service- 
able, after sulphur waters have corrected the digestive 
and assimilative organs. 

For the treatment of this class of affections, when 
perfectly unconnected with organic derangements, we 
would also call attention to the " Rawley Springs." 

The Rawley water is the purest and strongest cha- 
lybeate that is found in our country, and where a strong 



104 WHITE StJLMUR SPRINGS. 

iron tonic is demanded, it may be relied on with con- 
fidence. 

For many years I have occasionally sent patients to 
this water, and have generally been much pleased with 
its effects. 

Paralysis. — In most cases, Palsy is the sequel of an 
attack of apoplexy, which has come on suddenly and 
unexpectedly. In other cases, however, it is brought on 
slowly and from causes that do not directly implicate the 
brain, affecting certain muscles only, leaving others of 
the same parts untouched. 

Paralysis may be complete or incomplete ; that is, the 
muscles affected may be totally or partially powerless. 
There are many other causes besides apoplexy, that pro- 
duce paralysis ; such as tumors, injuries caused by vio- 
lence, cold, the action of poisons, excessive or improper 
indulgences, derangement of the digestive functions, &c. 

When palsy occurs without being preceded by apo- 
plexy, its approaches are generally gradual and con- 
nected with some appreciated derangement of the health. 

A gentleman was under my care last summer with a 
decided paralysis of the entire right side, resulting from 
derangement of the chylopoietic viscera, in whom the 
disease came on so gradually, that he was unable with 
distinctness to designate the time of its first appearance. 
Another individual, an elderly gentleman, was under my 
direction the same season, with a paralysis that had been 
indaced by injudicious perseverance in cold shower 
bathing. Although this was an unequivocal case of 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 105 

hemiplegia, barely enabling the patient to drag his 
leaden-like limbs along, it was preceded by no apoplectic 
shock,- the *gentlenian being quite conscious of the occa- 
sion and progress of the attack. There are other cases 
in which the loss of power over the muscles takes place 
instantaneously, although not preceded by a distinct 
apoplexy. 

The number of paralytics that resort to the White 
Sulphur is large, and their success from the use of the 
waters has been various. Cases resulting from dyspeptic 
depravities are oftener cured than those from any other 
cause; but in almost every case some amendment of the 
general health takes place, notwithstanding the paralysis 
may not be removed. Warm or hot sulphur baths are 
useful in connection with the water. 

Chronic Diseases of the Chest, or Breast Com- 
plaints. 

The public generally, and no portion of it more than 
valitudinarians themselves, are prone to be exceedingly 
loose, undefined and inaccurate in drawing distinctions 
between the different and dissimilar diseases that occa- 
sionally affect the same organs of the body. This is 
especially the case when such diseases have one common 
generic name ; as, for instance, the name of " Breast 
Complaint," which, by a comprehensive and sweeping 
application, is made to embrace, not only Tubercular 
Consumption, a disease of scrofulous origin, and gener- 
ally, if not uniformly incurable, but also a large number 



106 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

of other affections of the "breast," whose nature and 
termination are altogether dissimilar, and none of which, 
from their peculiar pathology, ought to be regarded as 
necessarily incurable. 

The same want of discrimination that confounds dis- 
eases affecting the same organ and of the same generic 
name, is prone, as might be expected, to confound the 
practice appropriate for their cure. This is constantly 
found to be the case in reference to the use of the White 
sulphur water in breast complaints. 

Pulmonary Consumption (Phthisis Pulmonalis) has 
to an alarming extent become a disease of our country, 
and especially in the more Northern and Northwestern 
portions of it; yet, notwithstanding its frequency, it is 
unquestionably true, that many diseases, accompanied 
by wasting of the body, hectic fever, cough and mucous 
expectoration, are often classed with it, both by friends 
and medical attendants, where no scrofulous taint lurked 
in the constitution. 

It is often embarrassing, even to the most experienced 
physician, to decide with clearness whether the lungs are 
the primary seat of disease, or whether they are merely 
the seat of a sympathetic irritation originating in some 
other organ. Nor can the practitioner always, with more 
than problematical conjecture, decide as to the existence 
or condition of tuberculous formations. But whatever 
may be the medical opinion as to the precise pathology of 
the disease, if the hectic flush be upon the cheeks, the 
vermillion upon the lips, the burning heat in the palms 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 107 

of the hands and soles of the feet, with evening fever 
or cold colliquative sweats, connected with hollow, pale, 
languid countenance, sharpened features, purulent expec- 
toration and progressive emaciation, constituting the ever 
present symptoms of Phthisis Pulmonalis, the use of the 
water ought to be withheld. 

The symptoms just enumerated are those that distin- 
guish tubercular consumption in its ultimate or matured 
stage, and in which the use of the water would prove 
injurious; but in no stage of formed, or forming tuber- 
cles of the lungs, should it be relied upon as a remedy. 

But it by no means follows, either from sound rea- 
soning in the premises, or from observation and expe- 
rience, that the want of adaptation in the waters to 
tubercular consumption proves their want of adaptation 
to other forms of breast complaints. On the contrary, 
we know that the very best effects have often been de- 
rived from their use in various cases that seriously impli- 
cated the lungs. 

Caution, however, should be exercised in submitting 
breast affections to the use of the White sulphur water ; 
and where doubts exist as to the nature of the case, a 
careful exploration of the chest should be made, and the 
best professional opinion elicited as to its true pathology. 
If tubercles in a mature or immature state are found in 
the lungs, prudence dictates the avoidance of the water; 
but if there be no tubercles, and no febrile excitement, 
the water may be employed without fear, although there 
may be cough, mucous expectoration and other symptoms 
evidencing a morbid determination to the lungs. 



108 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

I might give numerous cases illustrating the safety 
and success of the water in several forms of "breast 
complaints/ ' unconnected with a scrofulous diathesis or 
tubercles, but I will give one only, and that because it is 
of very recent occurrence, and happened in the person of 
an intelligent young physician of my acquaintance. 

Dr. H., of C, had been suffering for more than two 
years with an affection of the lungs, during which time 
he has had several hemorrhages, with two distinct attacks 
of apoplexy of the lungs; requiring, in each instance, 
active treatment for his relief. One of these apoplectic 
attacks, attended with hemorrhage, had occurred two 
weeks before I saw him. On his arrival at the springs, 
his pulse was 115 beats a minute, sense of fullness about 
the chest, with restlessness and general nervous excita- 
bility. I discouraged him from the use of the waters, 
under the apprehension of an increased excitement from 
their use, both in the vascular and nervous system, and 
advised him to visit the Red Sulphur, as offering a safer 
remedy. He disliked to make the journey, and deter- 
mined to remain a few days at the White without using 
the water, and then return home. Under this state of 
things, and as he was a physician and could watch his 
own case intelligently, I advised him to make a careful 
trial of the water in its ungaseous form; enjoining it 
upon him to discontinue its use if he found it to increase 
his pulse, and to persevere if the force or frequency of 
the pulse was reduced. The experiment was most fortu- 
nate ; his pulse was reduced day by clay, until it came 
down to its natural standard, the sense of fullness in the 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 109 

chest disappeared, the nervous excitement was assuaged, 
and in every respect, the amendment was clear and une- 
quivocal; not evanescent, but progressive, and as I be- 
lieve, permanent. 

It is proper to state that Dr. H. made several attempts 
to take the water fresh from the spring, but always found 
it too stimulating, and was forced to return to the ungas- 
eous water. 

It would be impossible, without going into a very te- 
dious dissertation on the nature and causes of the various 
diseases of the chest, (and which would be foreign to the 
objects of this work,) to set forth with such clearness as 
would be useful to the invalid, the various forms and mod- 
ifications of Breast Complaints, for the cure of which the 
"White sulphur water may be safely and profitably em- 
ployed. I shall allude here to but one of these forms, 
and to that mainly because it is of very common occur- 
rence and not unfrequently mistaken for genuine Con- 
sumption. 

I shall take the liberty of calling this form of disease 
Sympathetic Consumption, because this name will more 
clearly convey a correct idea of its character than any 
other I could give it. 

Sympathetic Consumption, although not peculiar to, 
occurs most frequently in persons of some constitutional 
disposition to phthisical complaints. It is the result of 
morbid sympathies extended from some other parts of 
the body, and more commonly from a diseased stomach 
or liyer. The great par vagum nerve, common to both 



110 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

the stomach and lungs, affords a ready medium of sym- 
pathy between those two important organs. In pro- 
tracted cases of dyspepsia, the stomach often throws out 
morbid influences to the windpipe and surface of the 
lungs, occasioning cough, mucous expectoration, pain in 
the breast, and many other usual symptoms of genuine 
consump;ion. So completely, indeed, does this translated 
affection wear the livery of the genuine disease, that, as 
before remarked, it is often mistaken for it. This form 
of disease comes often under my notice at the springs, 
and I frequently witness the happiest result from the 
employment of the water in such cases : and the more 
so, because its beneficial effects resolve a painful doubt 
that often exists in the mind of the patient as to the true 
character of his disease. % 

Bronchitis. 

Bronchitis is often met with at all our watering places ; 
sometimes as a primary affection of the bronchia, and 
often in connection with other diseases. 

Of late, this has become an exceedingly common dis- 
ease with the Clergy of our country ; so much so, as em- 
inently to demand an investigation into the peculiar 
causes that render this valuable class of men so subject 
to its influence. Such an investigation would not only 
be highly interesting as a curious subject of pathological 
inquiry, but also might be valuable by enabling the 
Clergy to avoid the exciting and predisposing causes of 
the malady. It is not our purpose to enter into this 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. Ill 

investigation 5 it would be foreign to the objects of this 
work; but merely to observe, for the benefit of those 
thus afflicted, that the Mineral Waters of this region 
afford encouraging prospects of relief. We occasionally 
meet with cases that are relieved at this place ; and simi- 
lar results occur at all watering places. 

The Red Sulphur is well adapted to many cases of 
Bronchitis. When a strumous diathesis prevails, the 
waters of the Alum Springs are happily adapted for 
relief, and in such cases, we would give them a prefer- 
ence over any of our springs. 

We often see Bronchitis, at the White, give way and 
disappear, in the same ratio in which the water exerts its 
alterative power over the digestive and assimilative or- 
gans. Dr. R., of lower Virginia, was relieved of an 
obstinate attack in this way ; an officer of our navy expe- 
rienced the same good fortune. 

Chronic Diseases or the Skin. 

The sympathy existing between the surface of the body 
and the large internal organs, particularly the stomach 
and liver, has long been known and appreciated by medi- 
cal men. The celebrated practice of Abernathy, of di- 
recting his remedies to the stomach and bowels for the 
cure of cutaneous diseases, was based upon a knowledge 
of this sympathy. Dr. James Johnson, of London, in 
treating of the morbid sympathies of the organs, remarks, 
that in Cutaneous and Eruptive Complaints, "an exten- 
sive class of diseases, whose treatment has hitherto been 



112 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

very puzzling, the stomach, in company with the liver 
and intestines, sympathises to an extent that is little 
imagined ;" and adds, " that from the midst of the most 
inveterate of these, there is scarcely one that is not more 
or less connected with derangements of the above-men- 
tioned organs, but particularly the liver, and consequently 
under the control or influence of remedies directed to 
them." 

I have very generally observed in the administration of 
sulphur waters for cutaneous diseases, that just in pro- 
portion as the great abdominal organs became alterated, 
the disease of the skin was relieved ; nor do I anticipate 
any very decided amendment in such cases, especially if 
they be of long standing, until the water has exerted its 
sanitary effects upon those organs. 

The warm sulphur hath is a valuable assistant to the 
internal use of the waters in cutaneous diseases, and 
should be daily employed after the water has begun to 
shew its alterative effects upon the liver and bowels. 

It is often exceedingly gratifying to residents at the 
springs, to witness the progressive disappearance of cuta- 
neous eruptions, and ultimate recovery in the course of 
the season, of persons who come there with unseemly 
affections of this kind. 

We occasionally see eruptive disorders located in the 
beard of gentlemen, generally caught from want of care 
or cleanliness on the part of their barbers. This affec- 
tion, although slight at first, assumes in its progress an 
obstinate and unpleasant character. The sulphur water, 



- ! 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 113 

in connection with the cream-like deposit found about the 
spring, will ordinarily be successful in its relief. 

In ill-conditioned ulcers of the extremities, which are 
most generally found connected with some general de- 
pravity of the constitution, the water, in a general way, 
displays very fine effects. In such cases, we prefer the 
water to be so used as to make decided impressions upon 
the bowels and skin for a few days, to be continued after- 
wards in smaller and less operative quantities. 

Rheumatism and Gout. 

Next to diseases of the abdominal viscera, rheumatism 
is most frequently met with at our watering places. The 
ancient reputation of the White Sulphur, and that which 
at an early day directed public attention to its potency, 
was derived from its successful use in rheumatism. Tra- 
dition says, that the efficacy of this spring in this disease 
was known to the Indians whilst they dwelt in the coun- 
try ; and it is a matter of history that the first important 
cure it is known to have effected among the whites, was 
in a disease of this kind. The reputation thus early 
acquired has not been lost, but, on the contrary, has 
become established by the experience of more than half 
a century. 

It must be borne in mind, however, that it is not 
adapted to every case of rheumatism. It is only in the 
chronic form of this disease, when active inflammatory 
action is not present, that it can be looked to for success. 



114 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

We often see at our watering places, and particularly 
in persons from warm miasmatic regions, a form of 
rheumatism intimately connected with, and dependent 
upon derangement of the internal organs. For the cure 
of such cases, the water is peculiarly adapted. The same 
discriminative and especial praise may be bestowed upon 
it in Mercurial rheumatism, which we occasionally find 
connected with chronic inflammation and enlargement of 
the bones. In most cases it will be advisable to connect 
the use of ivarm or hot bathing with the drinking of the 
water, and in many, especial advantage will be derived 
from the local application of this adjuvant in the form of 
a douche. 

The united effects of these agents, operating for a 
sufficient length of time, rarely fail to relax the rigidity 
of the muscles, to give strength, ease and elasticity to the 
diseased joints, and to impart vigor and tone to the whole 
system. 

The reputation of the Hot Springs in diseases of this 
class, is too familiar to the public to require any special 
comment here. The well-contrived arrangements at that 
place for receiving baths of a variety of temperature, and 
in different forms, from the douche to the sweating pro- 
cess, gives to that place great advantages, so far as hot 
bathing is concerned. 

Gout is not unfrequently seen at this, and all our 
watering places. The general operative influences of 
sulphur waters, and the tone and energy which they 
impart to the digestive and assimilative functions, are 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 115 

often serviceable in this painful affection ; and especially, 
when, with the use of the water, the patient pursues that 
prudent course of regimen which in this, not less than in 
other diseases originating in the stomach, is absolutely 
necessary to a cure. 

As a palliative, the water is very generally serviceable. 

Dropsies. 

The alterative influence of sulphur waters is often very 
conspicuously displayed upon the absorbent as well as 
upon the secretory system, and hence, under its use, 
dropsical effusions are often removed, while the general 
health and tone of the system is so improved as to pre- 
vent their re-accumulation. 

Perhaps there is no season at the White during which 
dropsical cases are not cured. A case came under my 
notice some years ago, in which a radical cure was effected 
after the patient had undergone the operation of paracen- 
tesis, and had become much emaciated by the disease. 

In cases originating, and dependent upon obstructions 
of the glands, the sulphur waters may be used with great 
confidence. 

Scrofula. 

The celebrated Dr. Armstrong states that he found the 
internal and external use of sulphur waters far more 
efficacious in scrofula than the common measures; for, 
after all the ordinary treatment had failed, he had seen 



116 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 

scrofulous affections cured by drinking such waters, and 
using them as a tepid bath. 

We regret that we cannot award the same unlimited 
praise to sulphur waters in such cases. Our success with 
them has been various. In the early stages of scrofulous 
affections, their administration is generally attended with 
benefit — occasionally, with marked benefit. In the ad- 
vanced stages, there is generally less cause of gratification, 
though even in such we have occasionally seen them ser- 
viceable, and in no instance injurious, except in a single 
case, which was attended with ulceration of the bowels. 

The Alum Spring offers a valuable resource in scrofu- 
lous affections. In the united use of sulphur and alum 
waters in this disease, there is a perfect compatibility, 
and the employment of the former for a few weeks, 
often constitutes the best preparation for the use of the 
latter. 

Mercurial Diseases. 

In that enfeebled and peculiar condition of the sys- 
tem resulting from the long protracted or injudicious use 
of mercury, the White sulphur water has displayed its 
happiest effects. 

The extraordinary powers of this water in correcting 
the injurious constitutional and local effects of this drug 
upon the system, cannot be appreciated too highly by 
the medical profession or the public. 

After long experience with the water in this peculiar 
form of disease, we have no hesitation in observing, that 



DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 117 

if called on to designate a particular affection, or state of 
the system in which the agent is most beneficial, we would 
not hesitate to name Mercurial diseases; because we 
regard the water in such cases as a specific agent, and as 
almost certain to bring relief where other known agents 
would not. This we know is strong praise, and nothing 
but long and successful observation could induce us to 
award it. 

Of the many patients afflicted with disease from the 
abuse of mercury — and many of them in a state of 
great wretchedness — who annually resort to this place 
for relief, we have rarely seen a case, in which the water 
was properly used for a sufficient length of time, that 
was not either cured, or so relieved as to evidence the 
triumph of the remedy. The salutary action of the 
water in such cases may be considerably expedited by 
uniting with it some of the preparations of sarsaparilla 
or of iodine. The ivarm sulphur bath also, in such 
cases, comes in as an important auxiliary. 

The patient laboring under this anomalous affection, is 
required to exercise fully as much patience in the use of 
the water as is demanded in any other case. To make 
it fully successful in bad cases, from one to three months' 
use of it will generally be required ; occasionally inter- 
mitting it, for short periods, during this time. 



118 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 



CHALYBEATE SPRING. 

About forty rods from the White Sulphur Spring, 
and near the road that leads to Lewisburg, is a Chalyb- 
eate Spring, which is now being much and beneficially 
used by invalids. The existence of this iron water has 
long been known, but it is only within the last two years 
that it attracted sufficient attention to induce the pro^ 
prietor, Mr. Calwell, to have it deepened, walled up, and 
properly enclosed. 

The water has not been analysed, but there can be no 
doubt that the efficient medical material in it is iron, and 
that this is held in solution in the form of a carbonate, 
constituting the mildest, least offensive, and ordinarily 
the most efficient form in which ferruginous waters are 
found. 

I allude to this Spring in connection with the White 
Sulphur, because it is found immediately contiguous to 
it, and will doubtless be used in connection with it to a 
considerable extent. 

During the two last seasons, it has been much used 
by invalids, either in connection with the White sulphur 
water, or as an independent remedy, and its tonic effects 
in several cases that have come under my observation, 
have been gratifying. Judging from the taste of the 
water and its kindly influences upon the stomach, I infer 
that it is, to a great degree, exempt from the irritating 
salts that impregnate the waters of limestone regions. 



CHALYBEATE — ALUM. 1 19 

It acts mildly as a diuretic, and slightly on some per- 
sons as an aperient, but its chief value must be attributed 
to its tonic powers. 

Near the White Sulphur Hotel, familiarly known as 
"Mastin's," and not more than the fourth of a mile 
from the Sulphur Fountain, Alum water of very good 
quality, was discovered in digging a well, some years ago. 
It was found issuing fron> a thick stratum of semi-soft 
slate stone, about fifteen feet below the surface of the 
earth. This water was favorably noticed by Professor 
Hayward of Boston, who visited the Springs while it 
was in use. It was chemically examined by Professor 
Rodgers, but his notes in reference to it have been mis- 
placed. As a medicinal agent, it was thought favorably 
of by several persons who used it. The year after it 
was discovered, the late Mr. Mastin, then the lessee of 
the Hotel near which the water was found, very inju- 
diciously deepened the well, penetrated through the slate 
formation and struck upon a bold stream of common 
water, which submerged and thus destroyed the alum 
water. It is probable that, by sinking a well into the 
same slate formation, at some other point, the same kind 
of water may be found ) or, by filling up the old well 
with hydraulic cement, near to the point at which the 
alum water issued, it might be recovered and made 
useful. 



CHAPTER VI 



SALT SULPHUR STRINGS. 

These springs, three in number, are about twenty-four 
miles south from the White Sulphur, in the county of 
Monroe, and near Union, the seat of justice for that 
county. They are encircled by mountains on every 
side, — having Peters' Mountain to the south and east, 
the Alleghany to the north, and Swopes' Mountain to 
the west, near the base of which are the three springs 
alluded to. 

This watering place has been a popular and profitable 
resort for invalids for the last forty years ; having always 
heretofore, as now, enjoyed a high reputation, alike for 
the virtue of its waters and the excellence of its accom- 
modations. It is owned by Messrs. Erskine & Caruthers, 
worthy and enterprising proprietors, under whose per- 
sonal management the establishment has been for many 
years, and who made the principal improvements at the 
place — -which are both comfortable and extensive ; being 
sufficient for the accommodation of three hundred and 
fifty persons. 

The "Salt Sulphur" proper was discovered by Erwin 
Benson, Esq., in 1805, when boring for salt water, which 

ISO 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 121 

lie was induced to believe might be found there, from the 
fact that, in old times, the spot had been a favorite 
" Lick" for deer and buffalo. This spring is neatly en- 
closed in a marble reservoir, two feet square, and about 
two feet ten inches deep, and is protected from the 
weather by a neat and comfortable edifice. 

The following is the analysis of this water, as fur- 
nished by Professor Rodgers : 

Temperature variable from 49° to 56°. 

Solid matter procured, by evaporation, from 100 cubic 
inches, weighed, after being dried at 212°, 81.41 grains. 

Quantity of each solid ingredient in 100 cubic inches, 
estimated as perfectly free from water : 



1. Sulphate of lime, - - - 36.755 grains. 

2. Sulphate of magnesia, - - 7.883 " 

3. Sulphate of soda, - - - 9.682 " 

4. Carbonate of lime, - - - 4.445 " 

5. Carbonate of magnesia, - 1.434 " 

6. Chloride of . magnesium, - 0.116 u 

7. Chloride of sodium, - - 0.683 ff 

8. Chloride of calcium, - - 0.025 " 

9. Peroxide of iron, from proto- 

sulphate, ----- 0.042 

10. An azotized organic matter, 

blended with sulphur, about 4 

11. Earthy phosphates, - - a trace. 

12. Iodine. 



G 



u 



:c 



122 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

Volume of each of the gases contained in a free state 
in 100 cubic inches : 

Sulphuretted hydrogen, 1.10 to 1.50 cubic inches. 
Nitrogen, ------ 2.05 " 

Oxygen, ------ 0.27 " 

Carbonic acid, 5.75 " 

The above analysis applies to the Iodine, or New 
Spring, as well as to the Upper, or Old Spring, as the 
following extract of a letter, from Professor Rodgers to 
the proprietors, will show : 

"I enclose you a list of the ingredients in the Salt 
sulphur water, which applies to the New as well as to the 
Old Spring, the former having rather a smaller amount 
of saline matter in general, though in some ingredients 
surpassing the other. It has been very minutely ana- 
lyzed, and is the first of all the- waters in which I was 
enabled to detect traces of iodine, which it contains in 
larger amount than the Old Spring, and, indeed, than 
most of the other waters in which I have been so fortu- 
nate as to discover this material." 

The Iodine, or Neio Spring, was accidentally discov- 
ered by the proprietors in 1838, while engaged in opening 
a drain for the water of the " Salt," and was immediately 
deepened and enclosed in a marble reservoir, and covered 
by an appropriate building. Owing to a large deposit of 
sulphur in combination with some peculiar organic matter, 
which floats as a pellicle upon the, surface of the spring, 
this water is less limpid than that of the " Salt'." Under 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 123 

an intense heat of the sun, it occasionally deposits a beau- 
tiful pink sediment upon the bottom and sides of the 
reservoir. In taste and sniell, it much resembles the 
water of the other springs, but being ten degrees warmer, 
is less palatable to some persons. Its temperature varies 
from 62° to 68° Fah. 

The presence of a larger quantity of iodine in this 
spring, points it out as a superior agent in many affec- 
tions for which iodine is successfully employed, par- 
ticularly in scrofula, goitre, and some diseases of the 
skin. 

The Upper, or Old Spring, was discovered in 1803, 
by Alexander Hutcherson, Esq., who was searching for 
salt water on Indian Creek. It soon came into high 
reputation as a mineral water, and was the annual resort 
of a large company. The house now occupied as a hotel, 
and several of the old cabins, were erected at that early 
day. The water of this spring is now almost exclusively 
used for the baths : the opening of the Salt Sulphur 
proper, whose waters are more strongly marked, having 
in a great degree superseded it as a drink. 

The water of the Salt Sulphur possesses all the sen- 
sible properties of the sulphur waters in general. " Its 
odor, for instance, is very like that of a 'tolerable egg/ 
and may, in certain states of the atmosphere, be per- 
ceived at some distance from the spring, and in taste it 
is cousin-german to a strong solution of Epsom salts and 
magnesia. In a short time, however, strange to say, 
L these disagreeable properties are either not observed, or 
I become, on the other hand, attractive ; indeed, there is 



124 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. , 

hardly an instance of an individual's retaining his origi- 
nal repugnance to them longer than three or four days, 
and some there are who become so excessively fond of 
the water as to give it the preference over any other liquid. 
Like most of the sulphurous, this water is perfectly 
transparent, and deposits a whitish sediment, composed 
of its various saline ingredients, mingled with sulphur. 
It is also for the most part placid ; occasionally, however, 
it is disturbed by a bubble of gas, which steals slowly to 
the surface, where it either explodes with a timid and 
dimpling smack, or is eagerly caught up by some care- 
worn and almost world-weary invalid as a gem from the 
treasury of Hygeia I" 

We are indebted to Dr. Mutter's pamphlet on the 
Salt Sulphur for many of our facts in relation to this 
interesting establishment, and shall still further avail 
ourselves of it in noticing the various diseases io which i 
these waters are applicable. 

Diseases to which the Salt Sulphur is 
applicable.* 

The Salt Sulphur, like almost all the sulphurous 
waters, being a stimulant, should consequently not be 
employed in acute or highly inflammatory affections; 
nor in those in which there exists much active determi- 
nation of blood to the head, or at least not until this 
determination has been guarded against by previous 

*Dr. Thomas D. Mutter. 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 125 

diet, purgation, and, if necessary, blood-letting. But in 
all chronic affections of the brain, nervous system, some 
diseases of the lungs, stomacli, bowels, liver, spleen, kid- 
neys and bladder, it is one of the most valuable of our 
remedial agents. In diseases of the joints (gout and 
rheumatism) and skin; in mercurial sequelse ; in haem-* 
orrhoidal affections; and in chronic diseases of the 
womb, it is also a remedy of immense importance. 

1. Of Chronic Diseases of the Brain. — In no class 
of diseases, probably, is there required more caution in 
the exhibition of a mineral water, and especially of one 
which under ordinary circumstances excites the system 
at large. Many persons, on this account, haye prohib- 
ited its use; but experience, the only sure guide, has 
shown that many a case of chronic head-ache, incipient 
mania, and local palsy, dependent upon congestion or 
chronic inflammation of the brain, will yield to the 
steady use of a cathartic mineral water, when almost 
every other agent has failed. For such cases the Salt 
Sulphur seems peculiarly adapted, but it -must be used 
with caution, and assisted, if necessary, by local deple- 
tion, counter irritation, and diet. 



2. Neuralgia. — It is well known to the profession, 
that neuralgic affections are often dependent upon a 
deranged condition of the chylopoietic viscera. The 
habitually costive, or those who have suffered from 
repeated attacks of miasmatic diseases, and the dyspeptic, 
i are generally most liable to attacks of neuralgia. In 



126 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

such cases I have known the Salt Sulphur prove highly 
beneficial. 

3. Nervous Diseases. — The various affections termed 
nervous, such as hypochondria, hysteria, catalepsy, 
fchorea, &c, are also frequently dependent upon dis- 
order of the digestive apparatus, and resist all our 
remedies for months or years. In such cases a trip to a 
mineral spring is generally recommended, not so much 
for the waters, probably, as for the change of air, scene, 
mode of life, &c, which it entails. Making all due 
allowances for the beneficial action of the last nanled 
agents, I am confident that the steady cathartic action of 
the water is of infinite benefit. Two cases of chorea 
and one of hysteria I saw completely relieved in the 
course of six weeks, by the use of the " Salt sulphur 
water. 

4. Chronic Diseases oe Chest. — Diseases of the 
thoracic viscera are unfortunately too common in our 
country, aficl hence we find crowds of their unfortunate 
victims at nearly every watering place, seeking, and too 
often but vainly, some relief from their distressing con- 
dition. In some cases — those, for example, in which the 
irritation is dependent upon the retrocession of some 
habitual discharge, and those too in which the skin is 
dry and cool, and the indication is to produce a revulsion 
to the surface by directing the fluids from the centre to 
the circumference, which .will also facilitate expectora- 
tion — the cautious administration of the Salt sulphur 






SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 127 

water will be useful. In those cases also in which the 
cough is sympathetic or dependent upon some lesion of 
the chylopoietic viscera, it may be employed. But in 
every instance where it can be traced to an organic affec- 
tion of the heart or large blood vessels, and if there be 
fever, emaciation, tubercles with cavities in the lung, 
haemoptysis or diarrhoea, the death of the patient will 
be hastened by the employment of a stimulant so active 
as the Salt Sulphur. For pulmonary cases the Salt Sul- 
phur offers the advantages of an agreeable temperature, 
and a dryness of atmosphere . not possessed by the other 
springs in the mountains of Virginia. During the sea- 
son, which continues from the first of June to the middle 
of September, the thermometer ranges from 70° to 85° 
Fahrenheit, and there is little or no fog in the morning. 

5. Chronic Diseases of the Abdominal Vis- 
cera. — In making an estimate of the cases of disease 
one meets with at a watering place, it will not, I think, 
be going too far to say, that two-thirds at least are 
referable to some affection of the abdominal viscera. 
Hepatitis, jaundice, splenitis, gastritis, gastralgia, pyrosis, 
dyspepsia, enteritis, diarrhoea, &c, are encountered at 
every turn. 

In Hepatic affections, or those commonly called Bil- 
ious, the Salt sulphur water is, without doubt, one of the 
most powerful and efficient remedies we possess. When 
taken in a proper manner, its sanative influence is 
speedily manifested by a change in the biliary secretion. 



128 MINERAL WATERS OP VIRGINIA. 

Constipation, the usual attendant upon such cases, is 
relieved, the sallowness of the skin disappears, and in 
the course of a few weeks a complete and radical cure is 
often accomplished. 

Chronic Splenitis, one of the most common, and at 
the same time one of the most obstinate of the sequelae 
of the fevers of the South, I have known frequently re- 
lieved by the use of this water, as well as by that of the 
White Sulphur. 

Chronic Gastric Irritation, it is well known, is often 
relieved by the administration of an agent calculated to 
set up a new action in the mucous coat, and those cases 
of dyspepsia which depend upon such a condition of the 
stomach are often relieved by the use of a sulphur water. 
A number of such are annually met with at the Salt 
Sulphur, many of which leave the spring perfectly cured. 

Gastralgia, or Nervous Dyspepsia, is also occasionally 
met with, and may depend upon a variety of causes. 
When it is purely a functional disease, unaccompanied 
by organic \ lesion, a sulphur water, along with sulphur 
baths, will sometimes produce a very happy effect. 

Pyrosis, or Water Brash, is another disease in which 
the Salt Sulphur proves pre-eminently useful. I have 
known cases in which a pint or more of a secretion so 
acid as to set the teeth on edge, was daily thrown up, 
radically cured, by the use of this water, in the course 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 129 

of six or eight weeks. — (Mr. F., of Princeton, is an ex- 
ample of this.) 

When Dyspepsia is known to be dependent upon scir- 
rhous or cancer of the stomach, I would strenuously 
advise the patient to abstain from the use of the Salt 
Sulphur, and indeed from that of any mineral water. 

Mrs. C- , of North Corolina, was, I am convinced, 

destroyed by it. 

Chronic Irritation of the Bowels, giving rise to chronic 
diarrhoea or dysentery, upon the principle of a new action 
being set up, are frequently cured by the use of the Salt 
sulphur. I wish this statement to be borne in mind, for 
it is usual to decry the use of a sulphur water in such 
cases ; but the experience of those who have paid atten- 
tion to the subject, will bear me out in the assertion. 
Mr. T., of Philadelphia, who for three years labored 
under chronic diarrhoea, and who was supposed to have 
ulceration of the mucous membrane of the bowels, was 
radically cured by a few weeks use of the water. 

Constipation. — Habitual costiveness is another affec- 
tion for which the Salt sulphur water is an excellent 
remedy. 

Haemorrhoids. — The use of laxatives in piles is a treat- 
ment so long in use that nothing need be said in its favor, 
but the sulphur waters operate much more beneficially 
than any other agent, inasmuch as in nearly every case of 



130 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

chronic piles we find the liver more or less affected. This 
fact, first observed by Armstrong, is so universally admit- 
ted, that I shall not stop to say any thing towards its fur- 
ther substantiation. 

7. Chronic Diseases of the Urinary Organs. — 
Prom the fact that nearly all mineral waters, either from 
the quantity usually taken, or from some peculiarity of 
their ingredients, prove diuretic, they have always been 
favorite remedies in diseases of the urinary organs. 
Those which contain an excess of alkaline ingredients, 
have, without doubt, proved remarkably serviceable in 
cases of acid calculous diathesis, but it must be confessed 
that as a general rule, and always where the stone is 
large, they prove but a doubtful remedy. In the incip- 
ient stages of calculous disease, however, and those espe- 
cially in which the formation of stone is dependent upon 
some disease of the digestive apparatus, the sulphur wa- 
ters are often useful. Many such cases have been bene- 
fited at the Salt Sulphur. When this water fails to 
accomplish the desired object, I have seen that of the 
JSweet Spring productive of much good. 

Although this water may be considered as a somewhat 
doubtful remedy in calculous diseases of any duration, it 
must be allowed to possess astonishing sanative properties 
in chronic irritation of the mucous membrane of the 
kidneys, bladder, prostate gland, and urethra. Many 
cases of chronic nephritis, vesical catarrh, prostatic irri- 
tation and gleet, are annually cured by its employment. 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 131 

8. Chronic Diseases op the Genitals. — Like all 
sulphur waters, those of the Salt Sulphur are often very 
useful in obstinate cases of general or local debility, the 
result of previous excessive indulgence. They are also 
remarkably beneficial in atonic leucorrhoea, amenorrhea, 
and dysmenorrhea ; but when either of these complaints 
is dependent upon local or general plethora, the use of 
the water must be preceded by depletion, either local or 
general, according to circumstances. 

9. Chronic Rheumatism and Gout. — The diseases 
most frequently met with, after those of the digestive 
organs, at our different watering places, are rheumatism 
and gout. In all such, the alterative influence of a sul- 
phur water is invariably, I believe, more or less useful ; 
but to receive full benefit from its use, the warm or hot 
mineral bath should be resorted to, and the diet, clothing 
and exercise properly regulated. With many others, I 
cheerfully acknowledge the immense benefit derived from 
the use of Salt sulphur. 

10. Mercurial Rheumatism, Periostitis and In- 
flammation op the Bones, are also very much relieved 
(in most cases) by the use of the Salt sulphur. Along 
with the water, it will be well to use the hot baths. 

11. Chronic Diseases of the Skin.— When judi- 
. ciously administered, no remedy is productive of more 

permanent benefit in all cutaneous affections, than the 
sulphur waters ; but unfortunately they are but too often 



132 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

abused. They are only suitable when the eruptions are 
of long duration, and unaccompanied by inflammation. 
Used in the acute stages, they aggravate the symptoms. 
It is always proper, moreover, to employ the warm or hot 
baths, during the use of the water. The Salt sulphur is 
often eminently successful in relieving cases of this kind. 

"We insert the certificates of several persons, going to 
shew the medicinal efficacy of the Salt Sulphur waters. 
Those from Baron Burnaby and Mr. Polk are particu- 
larly interesting and instructive. We find these certifi- 
cates in Dr. Mutter's pamphlet, from which we have 
already so freely quoted. 

• Salt Sulphur Springs, Aug. 13, 1838. 

Messrs. Erskine cfc Caruthers : 

Gentlemen — Having been greatly benefited by drink- 
ing of your valuable spring, I deem it a duty to my 
fellow-beings, to leave this statement of my case in your 
hands. 

For six months previous to my coming here, I had 
been suffering with a most obstinate constipation of the 
bowels, which I had tried in vain to remove by medicine, 
diet and exercise, and during that time I could not obtain 
a stool without the aid of an injection, and great pain 
attending it. After being here ten days, the Salt sul- 
phur water began to act freely on my bowels, and now, 
at the expiration of a month, I am glad to inform you 
that the constipation is entirely removed, and my health 
and strength restored. I am now agoing home in cheerful 
spirits to my friends. Yours, truly, 

GEO. A. BUTT, New York. 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 133 

Staunton, March, 1822. 
Some years since, I was afflicted with an - obstinate and 
dangerous disease, from which I was unable to obtain 
relief, until I visited the Salt Sulphur Spring, near Union, 
in the county of Monroe. The use of that water restored 
me to perfect health — which makes it my duty to state, 
at the request of the proprietors, the high opinion I have 
formed of its medicinal efficacy. I consider the Salt sul- 
phur water eminently useful in all cases that require ca- 
thartic remedies, particularly such diseases of the liver 
and stomach as proceed from biliary obstructions. The 
operation upon the bowels is active, but not violent — 
cleansing effectually the alimentary canal, and promoting 
digestion in a remarkable degree. The cathartic tendency 
of the water is so mild and certain, that the stomach and 
bowels are never oppressed or irritated, and whilst the 
healthy functions of the system are enabled to take their 
course, the suspended causes of disease are gradually 
worn away. 

BRISCOE G. BALDWIN. 



Salt Sulphur Springs, Aug. 31st, 1836. 

Messrs. Ershine & Caruthers : 

Gentlemen — Intending to leave your excellent and 
perfectly arranged establishment to-morrow, on my return 
home, I cannot, however, do so without expressing my 
thanks to you for your politeness and attention to myself, 
(and I observed the same attention to others) during my 
stay at the Salt Sulphur ; and I have much pleasure in 
saying that the use of the Salt Sulphur Spring water has 
been eminently beneficial to me; for, prior -to my coming 
here, I had been suffering for upwards of eighteen months 
from a total derangement of stomach from a long resi- 
dence in a warm climate, (Bermuda,) say, bad bile, great 



134 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

acidity of stomach, and an overflow of mucus to the 
lungs ; in short, I had dyspepsia, with all its disagreea- 
bles, accompanied with debility of body. Having tried 
the White sulphur water for ten days without . benefit, I 
came here, and in a week I found relief from all my 
complaints ; but my medical adviser, who practised at the 
White, recommended me to try the Red Sulphur, not- 
withstanding my having written to him of my improved 
state — my pulse, for one thing, being reduced from 80 to 
73 beats. I went to the Red and stayed there eight days; 
my pulse rose on the third day to 82, the fifth day to 89, 
the sixth day to 96 and 100 ) I was obliged to be leeched, 
which reduced my pulse to 84 ; I had there headaches 
and great dryness of tongue ) so on the ninth day, in the 
morning, I returned to the Salt, where, on the fourth day 
my pulse was again at 73, on the sixth day at 71 beats, 
and has continued from that day to this, varying from 71 
to 72, night and morning. I always counted my pulse 
in bed, when quiet, before drinking the water, for after 
drinking the spring water, my pulse latterly came down 
to 68 beats. * I was attentive to my diet, taking only 
stale bread or dry toast with scarcely any gutter, two cups 
of tea with milk (no cream) for breakfast ; dinner was 
mutton, (no gravy y) with rice and stale bread, no other 
vegetable — sometimes I took roast fowl, but no pudding 
or pies; at tea time, I took one cup of tea and stale 
bread, no butter, I found grease so bad for me.* The 
quantity of water taken by me was two half-pint tum- 
blers at half past 5 o' clock in the morning, in bed, one 
tumbler at 12 o' clock, sometimes one at 5 0' clock, and 
when in bed at night I took one more tumbler of the 
water ; but if I wished to perspire a little more freely, I 
took two tumblers of it. 1 found the water determine 
gently to the bowels, rather than to the kidneys ; what I 
took produced a full movement of the bowels. Before 
breakfast I walked a quarter of an hour ; between break- 
fast and dinner I walked about five miles, often going to 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 135 

Union ; between dinner and bed-time I think I walked 
about two miles more : I used to calculate about seven 
miles a day. For one bour after dinner I remained quiet 
in my room.,, I ate fruit once, and it gave me such a 
lesson I never tried it again. I am thus particular; for 
it may be of benefit to some one else next year ; and you 
are quite welcome to show this letter if you wish it. 

Wishing you your healths, not forgetting Mrs. Er- 
skine, I remain, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 

W. H. BURNABY, Baronet. 



Salt Sulphur Springs, Sept. 22d, 1839. 

Messrs. Erskin'e & Caruthers : 

I have been affected for fi\e or six years with an obsti- 
nate disease of the liver, and dyspepsia, and have visited 
nearly all the springs in the mountains without having 
experienced any material benefit, until I came to this 
place. I have applied to some of the best physicians 
without being relieved, but am happy to state, that the 
Salt sulphur water has had a most beneficial effect in 
removing many of the inconveniences attending my dis- 
ease, insomuch. that I am induced to carry a portion of it 
home with me. 

Yours, most respectfully, 

JOSEPH E. GARRATT. 

P. S.- — I am a resident of Knoxville, Frederick county, 
Maryland. J. E. G. 



Wilmington, Delaware, Aug. 31st, 1846. 

Calling at the Salt Sulphur Springs this summer, on 
my way to the Bed Sulphur, where I had received great 
benefit last season, I was induced by a friend to stop a 



136 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

day or two and try the effect of the water. After stay- 
ing a day or two, I was so much pleased that I deter- 
mined to stay longer ; and being more and more pleased 
with the water, I declined my visit to the Red, and 
staid here three weeks. My pulse, ranging when I ar- 
rived at from 70 to 72, was reduced, in two or three days, 
to from 59 to 63, where it remained so long as I staid. 
I always felt my pulse before getting up in the morning. 
My disease is one of the lungs. I have had six haem- 
orrhages, and been severely threatened with pulmonary 
consumption. I spent the last three winters in Florida, 
and about a r month last summer at the Red, and I can 
say, without hesitation, that I have never received so 
much benefit any where. I found the water much more 
active than any I had before tried, and at the same time 
very gentle and soothing in its operations. It excited me 
very little, if any, and reduced my pulse several beats 
lower than it was reduced by the Red last summer. I 
used the Iodine spring altogether. 

ROBERT POLK. 



Richmond, May 20th, 1840. 

Messrs. Erskine & Caruthers : 

Gentlemen : — It is with great pleasure that I answer 
your enquiry. I consider the Salt Sulphur Spring one 
of the most valuable of the sulphur waters of Virginia. 
I speak from my own experience,! an opinion formed 
from several years use of those waters, during a pe- 
riod of very ill health. I went first to the Springs by 
the advice of an able physician, who recommended for 
me the use of the Red Sulphur. On trial, I found the 
Salt Sulphur much more salutary. I was laboring under 
a highly excited state of pulse, which indicated low febrile 
symptoms, with a pulse ordinarily , at about 90 to 100 
beats to the minute, accompanied with much difficulty 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS, 137 

of breathing upon the slightest exercise. I was much 
benefited by the use of the Salt Sulphur water, and I 
think I can safely say that any one similarly affected will 
derive sensible benefit from its use. 

Yery respectfully, 

J. B. ABBOTT. 



Salt Sulphur Springs, Aug. 10th, 1836. 

Mrs. left her house in a state of great debility, 

scarcely able to walk, and was but little recruited by the 
journey. She reached the Salt Sulphur on the 20th of 
July, having stopped a week at the White Sulphur on 
the way, but without using the water. After remaining 
three days at the Salt Sulphur and partaking of the waters 
there, she proceeded to the Red Sulphur and staid there 
six days, returning on the 29th of July to the Salt, hav- 
ing, while at the Bed, used two or three tumblers of the 
water per diem — remained at the Salt Sulphur until the 

9th day of August. When Mrs. arrived first at 

the Salt Sulphur, she weighed 91, and was unable to 
walk any distance, or use any degree of exercise, without 
suffering greatly. 

In thirteen days after her arrival at the Salt Sulphur, 
was again weighed in the same scales, and had increased 
to 95 pounds and a half, making a gain of four pounds 
and a half in weight, while the circumference of her 
waist had been reduced nearly five inches. In the inte- 
rim, her countenance and eyes had undergone an essen- 
tial change for the better, her spirits and^strength restored, 
so as to take any ordinary exercise of riding or walking 
without inconvenience. The quantity of water which 
she ordinarily took, was from three to four glasses per 
diem, and she was careful in her diet, always avoiding all 
warm bread, and principally using bran bread, hominy, 
mutton, &c, &c. 



138 



MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 



The Salt Sulphur Iodine Spring has attracted 
increased attention the last few years, and a recent analy- 
sis of its waters by Dr. David Stuart, of Baltimore, 
gives a sanction to medical anticipations as to its pecu- 
liar virtues and appropriate applicability. The follow- 
ing are the results of Dr. S/s chemical investigations : 

Iodine Spring. 



One wine gallon of the water contains : 
Sulphuretted hydrogen, - 19.19 cubic inches. 



Carbonic acid, 


- 


34.60 


a 


Oxygen, 


- 


00.65 


5 " 


a 


Nitrogen, 


nts, 


04.7J 


i 




Total gaseous conte 


59.1< 


Solid contents of one 


gallon 








Sulphate of magnesia, 


- 


- 


20.00 


grains. 


Sulphate of .soda, 


- 


- 


24.00 


u 


Carbonate of lime, 


- 


- 


33.00 


iC 


Carbonate of magnesia, 


- 




07.00 


u 


Chloride of magnesium, 


- 


- 


00.28 


" 


Chloride of sodium, 


- 


- 


01.28 


u 


Chloride of calcium, 


- 


- 


00.56 


a 


Silicic acid, 


- 


- 


01.76 


a 


Carbonate of potash, 


- 


- 


02.33 


a 


Carbonate of soda, 


- 


- " 


10.80 


iC 


Sulphate of line, 


- 


- 


68.00 


(C 


Iodine, - 


- 


m 


00.93 


" 


Bromine, 


-. 


- 


00.65 


a 


Sesqui-oxicle of iron, 




- 


01.06 


a 


Alumina, 


- 


- 


00.18 


a 


Phosphate of soda and lithia, 


- 


00.73 


a 



Total solid contents, 



172.48 



SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 139 

Specific gravity, 1002.7 — reaction alkaline. Tempera- 
ture 64.75 to 65.50 Fahrenheit. « 

This analysis presents this water as an interesting and 
somewhat peculiar medical agent, differing in some re- 
spects from any of the sulphur springs in this region. 

The discovery of iodine in this water, some twelve 
years ago, by Professor Kodgers, has led to its successful 
use in various disorders for which that article is known 
to be a reliable remedy. In addition to the diseases 
already mentioned for which the Salt Sulphur proper is 
advised, the Iodine Spring will be found especially ser- 
viceable in the various glandular affections , mercurial 
rheumatisms, secondary syphilis, enlargements of the 
spleen, hepatic disease, mesenteric obstructions, and 
chronic exanthemata. 

The following interesting certificate illustrates the 
value of this water in an obstinate affection of the skin : 



Union, Monroe County, Va., 
15th December, 1845. 
During the summer of 1845 I was induced to try the 
Iodine Spring, at the Salt Sulphur Springs, in Monroe, 
for an obstinate and (as I then supposed) incurable erup- 
tion on the skin of one of my children. The disease first 
appeared, at the age of three weeks, in the shape of small 
red spots upon the cheeks, succeeded very soon by little 
watery pimples, which rose and broke continually, but 
without healing. In a short time the affected parts in- 
creased in size as well as quantity, until they extended from 
the face to the head and neck, and thence over the entire 
body — presenting one uniform and consolidated appearance 
of disease over the whole surface. The neck, head, and 



140 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

face discharged matter from the scabs, and the legs from 
the knee down. For fourteen months I kept the child 
constantly under medical treatment, but without any per- 
manent benefit, or any prospect of recovery, until, at the 

instance of Dr. M. (who at the time was residing at 

the Salt,) I was induced to make a trial of its waters. 
He represented the disease as a constitutional affection of 
the blood, which could not be relieved, and which ought 
not to be arrested very suddenly, but assured me, very 
confidently that it would yield to nothing with so much 
certainty and success as to the external application of 
the Iodine water at the Salt. The child was bathed twice 
a day in the water made gently tepid, of which it drank 
pretty copiously during the ceremony. About the fourth 
day there was an evident change for the better, and the 
child from that time continued to improve daily, until, at 
the expiration of six weeks, the sores had healed, the scabs 
had disappeared, the pimples and splotches had subsided, 
and the skin, for the first time for more than fourteen 
months, assumed a natural and healthy appearance. I 
have no doubt by remaining a few weeks longer every 
vestige of the eruption would have been removed. But 
I consider the disease at this time as effectually con- 
quered, and as having changed its type completely. In- 
deed, the only indications ever visible are an occasional 
roughness on the skin. As we used no medicine, except 
occasionally some mild cathartic, I feel no hesitation in 
ascribing all the results that I have stated to the effects 
of the Iodine water, 

WILLIAM G. CAPERTON. 



CHAPTER VII 



RED SULPHUR SPRINGS 



The Red Sulphur Springs are in the southern portion 
of the county of Monroe, 42 miles south from the White 
Sulphur. They are distant 17 miles from the Salt, 39 
miles from the Sweet, and 32 miles from the Blue Sul- 
phur. *The approach to the Springs is beautifully ro- 
mantic and picturesque. Wending his way around a 
high mountain, the weary traveller is for a moment 
charmed out of his fatigue by the sudden view of his 
resting-place, some hundreds of feet immediately beneath 
him. Continuing the circuitous descent, he at length 
reaches a ravine, which conducts him, after a few rugged 
steps, to the entrance of a verdant glen, surrounded on 
all sides by lofty mountains. The south end of this en- 
chanting vale, which is the widest portion of it, is about 
two hundred feet in width. Its course is nearly north 
for about one hundred and fifty yards, when it begins 
gradually to contract and changes its direction to the 
north-west and west, until it terminates in a narrow point. 
This beautifully secluded Tempe is the chosen site of the 
village. The north-west portion is occupied by stables, 

*Huntt. 

141 



142 MINERAL WATERS OE VIRGINIA. 

carriage houses, and shops of various sorts ; the southern 
portion, just at the base of the east and west mountains, 
is that upon which stand the various edifices for the ac- 
commodation of visiters. These buildings are spacious 
and conveniently arranged, while the promenades, which 
are neatly enclosed by a white railing, are beautifully 
embellished, and shaded from the mid-day sun by indi- 
genes of the forest, the large, umbrageous sugar maple. 
The spring is situated at the south-west point of the 
valley, and the water is collected into two white marble 
fountains, over which is thrown a substantial cover. 

These springs have been known* and distinguished as a 
watering place for near fifty years. The improvements 
at the place are extensive and well-designed, combining 
elegance with comfort, and are sufficient for the accommo- 
dation of 350 persons. 

The water of the spring is clear and cool, its tempera- 
ture being 54° Fahrenheit. 

The following is Professor Bodgers' analysis of the 
water of this spring : 

" Gaseous contents in an imperial gallon : 

Sulphuretted hydrogen, 4.54 cubic inches. 
Carbonic acid, - - 8.75 " 

Nitrogen, - - - 4-25 " 

Solid contents of 32 cubic inches of water, gr. 1.25, 
consisting of sulphate of soda, lime and magnesia, car- 
bonate of lime and muriate of soda/ 

Besides these ingredients, the water contains, in con- 
siderable quantity, a peculiar organic substance, which 



RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 143 

mingled with sulphur, is deposited on the sides of the 
spring, and seems to increase by a species of organic 
growth." 

Mr. Augustus A. Hayes, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, 
has also analyzed this water, and apparently with great 
care and scientific skill. The following are the results of 
his chemical examinations : 

Hayes' Analysis. 

u This water is perfectly colorless and transparent ; 
when agitated it has an agreeable sparkling appearance. 
Its odor is that of hydro-sulphuric acid, mixed with that 
from earth or clay; the latter being retained, after the 
hydro-sulphuric acid is dissipated, or destroyed. Its taste 
is hepatic and slightly bitter. By ebullition, it does not 
immediately become turbid, gases escape, and when re- 
duced in volume by evaporation, deposition takes place. 

The specific gravity of this water, compared with pure 
water at the same temperature, and pressure equal, is 
100029. Subjected to the influence of chemical re-agents, 
it presents the following characters : 

With a solution of chromate of potash, the yellow 
color becomes greenish yellow. 
" solution of nitrate of mercury, a grayish- 
brown precipitate is formed, 
acetate of lead ; the first drops give a brown 
colored precipitate ; an additional quantity of 
a yellowish white precipitate. 



a 



it 



a 



tt 



144 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

With, a bisulphate of copper ; at first brown, succeeded 
by a bulky greenish-gray precipitate. 

sulphate of silver, a brown, succeeded by a 
yellowish white and flocculent precipitate. 

muriate of baryta, a -white precipitate, insolu- 
ble in acids. 

oxalate of ammonia, a white precipitate. 

nitrate of silver and ammonia, white precipi- 
tate, which becomes brown and purple in 
sunlight. 

nitrate of copper and ammonia, a pale bluish- 
green precipitate is formed; after the first 
few drops of the re-agent have separated, a 
brown precipitate. 

tincture of iodine, added to a large bulk of 
the water, containing starch dissolved in it, 
instantly gives a blue color to the starch. 

Indications above described afford evidence of hydro- 
sulphuric acid in the water, while the iodine solution 
shows that it exists in a relatively small proportion. A 
bottle of the water was mixed, at the moment of taking 
it from the spring, with a small quantity of oxide of bis- 
muth, and closely sealed. After the agitation due to car- 
riage, and rest for several weeks, it was found that the 
particles of oxide of bismuth were rendered brown su- 
perficially, and no traces of hydro-sulphuric acid remained 
in the water. The oxide contained carbonic acid, and less 
than one-third of a grain of the oxide had absorbed and 
combined with all the hydro-sulphuric acid, contained in 



u 



RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 145 

about fourteen thousand grains of the recently drawn 
water. By careful experiments, in which the hydro-sul- 
phuric acid was measured by its action on iodine, and the 
latter weighed in its silver compound, the bulk of the 
hydro-sulphuric acid was ascertained. 

50,000 grains (about seven pints) of the water, from 
which the hydro-sulphuric acid had been removed, af- 
forded by the usual processes 2698 grain measures of 
gases, or one volume of gases from 18 J volumes of water, 

1000 parts of the mixed gases are made up of — 
Carbonic acid gas, - - 4.19 
Nitrogen gas, - - - 4.77 
Oxygen gas, - - - 1.04 

1.000 

The two latter gases form the bulk of our atmosphere, 
in the proportion of 79 nitrogen to 21 oxygen — 477 of 
nitrogen requires 126 oxygen, while the analysis gives 
1.04, showing that oxygen is abstracted by the constit- 
uents of the water. All the well-corked bottles had rare- 
fied atmospheres over the water, and when they were 
pierced, even at 32° F., air would enter. 

A well-sealed bottle, containing the hydro-sulphuric 
acid gas in the water, afforded for 50,000 parts of water 
3088 of mixed gases, or one volume of gases from less 
than 17 volumes of water, consisting of — 



Carbonic acid gas, 


1245 


Nitrogen gas, - 


1497 


Oxygen gas, 


260 


Hydro-sulphuric acid gas, 


86 




•3008 



H 



146 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

Gaseous contents of a gallon, or 231 cubic inches of 
the Red sulphur spring water : 

Carbonic acid, - 5.750 

Nitrogen, - - - - 6.916 

Oxygen, - - - - 1.201 

Hydro-sulphuric acid, - - 0.397 



14.264 
In this analysis, the proportion of oxygen gas to the 
nitrogen is still smaller — a result which accords with 
other observations made at the same time. The hydro- 
sulphuric acid gas is the most active of the gases found ; 
while the carbonic acid gas acts the part of an acid, in 
rendering earthy salts soluble in the water. 

50,000 grains (about seven pints) of this water af- 
forded by slow evaporation in air at 200° F., a light yel- 
lowish-brown matter, which, after it had been carefully 
dried, weighed 20 56-100 grs. At the temperature of 
240° R, this residue becomes changed, and suffers a loss 
of weight, being reduced to 17.55 grs. 

This residue contains the saline part of the water, and 
is composed of — 

Silicious earthy matter, containing traces of ox- 
ide of iron and alumina, probably sus- 
pended merely, - - - - 0.70 
Sulphate of soda in a dry state, - - 3.55 
which forms with the water 802 grs, Glau- 
ber's salts. 
Sulphate of lime, - - , - - 0.47 
Carbonate of lime, - - ; - - 4.50 
dissolved in carbonic acid. 



RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 147 

Carbonate of magnesia, - - - 4.13 

dissolved in carbonic acid, and forming the 
" fluid magnesia/' 

A peculiar substance, containing sulphur com- 
bined with organic matter, - - 7.20 



20.55 
There are traces of chlorine, or muriatic acid, in some 
specimens, but at most only 0.03 of chloride of silver 
could be separated from 10,000 grs. of water. This sub- 
stance is rarely absent from natural waters, which have 
penetrated the earth. 

The peculiar sulphur compound which forms a part of * 
the saline contents of this water, has never been de- 
scribed, if it has ever before been met with. While in 
the natural state, and out of contact with atmospheric 
air, it is dissolved in the water, and forms a permanent 
solution. Air, acids, and other agents, separate it from 
the water, in the form of a jelly, and alkaline carbonates, 
alkalies, water, and other agents re-dissolve it. It has 
no acid action on test fluids, but bears that character with 
bases, and forms compounds analogous to salts. In its 
decomposition, ammonia is formed, and hydro-sulphuric 
acid is liberated $ or if heat be employed in the experi- 
ment, sulphur is separated. It combines with the oxide 
of silver, and forms a salt of a reddish purple color, in 
the form of a flocculent precipitate, which dissolves in 
pure water ; with the oxide of lead, a yellowish white 
powder ; and with the oxyde of copper, a pale blue salt 
in fine powder. In these compounds it remains unal- 



148 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

tered, and may be separated from them and transferred 
to other bases. 

Mixed with a small quantity of water, and exposed to 
the temperature of 80° F., it decomposes, and emits a 
most offensive odor of putrefying animal matter, with 
hydro-sulphuric acid gas. It is to this property that the 
hydro-sulphuric acid in the* water is due, and to the oxida- 
tion of a part of this compound most of the sulphuric 
acid found in the water may be referred. 

I have endeavored to ascertain how its elements are 
arranged, but so small a quantity has been separated, 
that I could not insure the purity of any salt formed 
with it. 1 44-100 grs. gave with oxide of copper 3 42-100 
grs. of a dry, bluish-green compound. 

With the specimens of water, I received a small quan- 
tity of a u reel deposit/' which invests the surfaces of the 
marble slabs forming the basin of the spring. It had be- 
come changed, although the cork was tightly sealed. 
When opened for examination, a soft,, clay-colored mass, 
composed of films having a greasy appearance, mixed 
with some filamentous parts, was found. The odor it ex- 
haled was insupportable \ it blackened metals, and when 
agitated with water, rendered it viscid. With a solution 
of carbonate of soda it formed a frothy solution, which, 
while cold, had the appearance of a solution of soap, and 
when heated disengaged some ammoniacal vapors, and 
formed a solution of all excepting some earthy and fila- 
mentous parts. This substance contains the same com- 
pound of sulphur and organic matter as that found 
dissolved in the water of the spring. I separated from 



RED SULPHUR SPRING^. 149 

the water the peculiar matter it contains, in the form of 
films, and compared these with those obtained from a 
soda solution of the altered " red deposit/ ; by the aid of 
re-agents, and they proved to be identical. From the ex- 
amination of this altered matter, I have formed the con- 
clusion, that the red color of the matter which covers the 
slabs is that of a moss or lichen, which finds its habitat 
in the viscid covering produced by the deposition of the 
sulphur compound. 

My eady attempts to illustrate this point failed. The 
substance separated from the water, by uniting it to oxide 
of copper, and afterwards destroying the union by hydro- 
sulp. acid, would become, after a few days, covered with 
vegetation of mosses, unlike those described as occurring 
at the spring, I was led to the conclusion that the spores 
or seeds of the peculiar " red moss" did not exist in the 
atmosphere of this place and must be found in the pro- 
ducts of warmer climates. After several trials, I suc- 
ceeded by treating rice, with a hot dilute solution of 
carbonate of soda, in obtaining a red colored moss vege- 
tation, which could be transferred to the decomposing 
compound on which it flourished. In its union with 
oxide of copper, no tendency to decay, or the production 
of vegetation was observed, under the most favorable 
circumstances ; but when, after separation, decomposition 
and decay had progressed, vegetation appeared. I need 
not ask, if a substance possessing vitality, can be com- 
bined with oxide of copper and afterwards eliminated 
by hydro-sulp. acid and retain its vital powers ? 



ISO MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

A small specimen of the mnd and slime, which appears 
where the water from the spring flows, was received. It 
was a black, tenacious mud, exhaling an odor of hydro- 
sulphuric acid, mixed with that from earth. The color 
is due to the sulphuret of iron, formed by the action of 
the hydro-sulphuric acid on the ferruginous matters con- 
tained in the soil, which is a product of a further decom- 
position of the sulphur compound contained in the water. 
It forms brown colored solutions and imperfect salts ; its 
sulphur element is retained ; in other respects, it resem- 
bles the brown extracts from soils, or the humus and 
apocrenic acids of Berzelius. 

Having studied the chemical characters of the sulphur 
compound imperfectly, I give only those re-actions in the 
following description, which will serve to show its want 
of identity with any of the various substances which 
have been found in thermal waters, and in some European 
hepatic waters. 

Chemical character of the Sulphur Compound. 

I. When separated from a solution by evaporation, or 
by drying from a gelatinous state, it forms greasy films, 
which do not darken solutions of lead or copper. 

II. In pure water they slowly dissolve, and the solu- 
tion gives salts of the compound, with the bases. 

III. Solution of carbonate of soda dissolves them, and 
a fluid results which froths by agitation. 

IV. In caustic solutions of alkalies, the films dissolve, 
and the solutions are slightly yellow colored. These so- 



RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 151 

lutions have the peculiar odor of soap-leys. They do not 
blacken metals, nor color metallic solutions. Acids de- 
compose the solutions, and the sulphur compound sepa- 
rates in the form of a bulky jelly generally; some oxy- 
acids giving flocks. 

V. Nitric acid dissolves the films, and the salts of 
baryta and lead do not indicate the presence of sulphuric 
acid. On heating the acid solution, a yellow matter sep- 
arates, which resembles that produced by acting on azo- 
tized bodies by this agent ; sulphuric acid is thus pro- 
duced, and the yellow precipitate requires a large propor- 
tion of nitric acid for its complete oxidation. The result 
of this action is an acid which gives a deep yellow color, 
with ammonia in excess. 

VI. Chlorine in muriatic acid separates from the sul- 
phur compound some white flakes, which are finally ox- 
ydized, and a colorless solution formed, in which sulphuric 
acid exists. 

VII. Alcohol did not dissolve the compound. 

Chemical experiments do not show the medicinal pro- 
perties of the substances operated on. But when a sub- 
stance, the result of delicately balanced affinities, gives in 
its decomposition an agent of powerful action on the ani- 
mal system, we may conclude that it is an active ingre- 
dient, if found in a water possessed of high curative 
powers. I am disposed, therefore, to consider the sulphur 
compound in this water as the principal medicinal agent 
contained in it; although its action in combination with 
the other constituents may be necessary to produce the 
effects for which this water is so justly celebrated. 



152 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA.* 

The following results give in one view the composition 
of this water : 

Gaseous contents of a gallon, or 231 cubic inches of 
the Red sulphur spring water — 

Carbonic acid, - - - 5.750 

Nitrogen, - - - - 6.916 

Oxygen, - - - - 1.201 

Hydro-sulphuric acid, - - 0.397 



14.264 



50,000 grs. (nearly seven pints) of this water contain 
dissolved as gases, (grain measure,) — 

Carbonic acid, - - 1245 water 

Nitrogen, - - - 1497 

Oxygen, - 260 

Hydro-sulp. acid, - 86 



* 3088 
. grain measures of gases. 

50,000 grs. of this water afford of — 

Silicious and earthy matter, - 0.70 

Sulphate of soda, - - - 3.55 

Sulphate of lime, - - / 47 

Carbonate of lime, - - - 4.50 

Carbonate of magnesia, - - 4.13 

Sulphur compound, - - 7.20 

Carbonic acid, - - - - 2.71 



23.26 



RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 153 

Note. — The carbonic acid which is given with the 
saline matter, being all which the water contains, in- 
cludes that which is given off as gas by ebullition. 

AUGUSTUS A. HAYES. 

Eoxbury Laboratory, Jan. 14, 1842." 

The peculiar and distinguishing reputation of this 
water, as a medicinal agent, is for diseases of the thoracic 
viscera, and by some it has been considered remedial in 
confirmed tubercular consumption. "Without affirming 
or controverting this high claim for the water as a 
remedy in confirmed consumjJtion, our observations for 
many years enable us to award to it decided efficacy in 
many cases of irritation of the pulmonary organs. In 
sympathetic or translated affections of the lungs, whether 
that state be occasioned from disease of the digestive or 
chylopoietic viscera, or be dependent upon the retroces- 
sion of some habitual discharge, the water deserves to be 
regarded as a valuable remedy. 

"A distinguished physician of South Carolina, who 
passed the summers of 1822-3, and part of '24, at the 
Red Sulphur Spring/ ' after giving a detailed report of 
three cases of pulmonary irritation connected with hse- 
mopotysis that were cured by the use of this water, under 
his own observation, makes the following judicious and 
sensible observations in reference to its powers in such 
cases : " I do not wish to be understood as stating that 
the water of the Red Sulphur will cure confirmed phthisis, 
or tuberculous consumption ; but I believe we are very 
often mistaken in supposing a case of pulmonary irrritation 



154 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

more desperate and hopeless than it really is, and I be- 
lieve that in most cases, if this Spring is resorted to 
early, and the clothing and diet and exercise duly at- 
tended to, its waters will be found a most powerful 
adjunct, and assistant in the management of these hith- 
erto unmanageable cases. " 

The late Dr. R. H. Bradford, who practiced medicine 
for many years at the Red Sulphur, remarks :* " The 
in effect of this water reducing the frequency of the pulse, 
is one of the numerous singular and powerful properties 
belonging to it. It lessens arterial action to such a de- 
gree that it seldom fails to remove fever, difficulty of 
breathing, and pain in the chest. When the patient is 
restricted to a proper regimen, this water may be taken 
with greater advantage in all pulmonary cases than any 
other remedy I have ever seen employed for that 
purpose." 

The late Dr. Huntt, of Washington City, spent a por- 
tion of the summer of 1837 at the Red Sulphur, for the 
relief of a pulmonary affection, with which he was at- 
tacked early in the spring of the same- year. He pub- 
lished a pamphlet on the nature and use of the Red 
sulphur water, in which he gives the following report 
of his own case : — 

iC In March, 1837, I was attacked with a slight haem- 
orrhage from the lungs, attended with other symptoms 
indicating a diseased state of those important organs. 
For a time I neglected to resort to medical treatment, 

*Dr. Huntt's pamphlet. 



RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 155 

and continued to pursue my professional labors until 
warned by my failing strength that the disease was gain- 
ing ground. By the application of the usual remedies 
the violence of the symptoms was soon subdued, and in 
a short time I felt myself sufficiently restored to resume 
my usual labors; but, with the exercise my wonted 
strength did not return ; the cough continued, with occa- 
sional pain in the chest/ and an uneasy sensation of ful- 
ness about the liver, stomach, and spleen. These symp- 
toms, after a time, were attended with increased cough, 
copious, morbid expectoration, hectic chills, fever and 
night sweats; my weight was reduced from 135 to 115 
pounds. 

" Such was my situation, when, about the middle of 
July, I left home for the Red Sulphur Spring, in Vir- 
ginia. 

"On the evening of my arrival at the Spring, I com- 
menced the use of its water. The next day, during a 
violent paroxysm of coughing, a coagulum of blood was 
discharged from the lungs, which was followed by consid- 
erable haemorrhage. After this, the cough became less 
troublesome, but the evening exacerbations of fever, and 
the night sweats continued, my pulse beating a hundred 
and fifteen strokes in a minute. I confined myself to a 
low diet, and drank six glasses of the water during 
the day, namely, two before breakfast, one at 11, A. M., 
one at 5, P. M., and two at bed time. The water acted 
freely on the bowels, and particularly on the secretions of 
the liver. In ten days, the abdominal viscera were en- 
tirely relieved, the pulse reduced to seventy-eight, and 



156 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

the fever and night sweats had ceased. The quantity of 
water was now increased to twelve glasses during the day, 
taken at the same hours, but in double doses. It acted 
very gently on the bowels and skin, but most powerfully 
as a diuretic. Thus it appears that in small quan- 
tities the water acted freely on the bowels, and but 
little on the kidneys, while in larger quantities it acted 
freely on the latter and scarcely affected the former. In 
fact, I could direct its action to the one or the other, at 
pleasure, by increasing or diminishing the quantity. My 
cough became better, but my strength still continued 
feeble, owing to my extremely low diet, and the copious 
action of the water. Unfortunately, I took but little ex- 
ercise, which I deem all-important while using the 
waters. 

" After a residence of three weeks at the Spring, and 
the constant use of the water during that time, to the 
manifest alleviation of the most pressing symptoms of 
my complaint, I was unexpectedly called home, in con- 
sequence of the illness of a member of my family. In 
the commencement of my homeward journey, my weak 
state compelled me to make very short stages ; but as 
soon as I had crossed the mountains, and resumed my 
usual mode of diet, my appetite and strength returned 
rapidly, and I completed the distance of three hundred 
and six miles in five days, without feeling the slightest 
inconvenience. The water seemed to produce its good 
effects in the improvement of my health for months after ■ 
I had left the Spring." 



RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 157 

Dr. Huntt remarks, that u On examining the visiters 
laboring under pulmonary disease, I observed that all 
those patients who drank the water so as to act freely on 
the bowels, for any length of time, did not improve in 
their health, because active purging is not proper for the 
lungs in this disease. The water must be drunk in such 
quantities as to act freely on the kidneys. There seems 
to be an intimate association between the lungs and the 
kidneys, and the kidneys seem to be the great emuncto- 
ries by which the lungs are relieved in all pulmonary 
diseases. This idea has been repeatedly suggested to me 
in my attendance on patients laboring under this disease. 
On inquiring into their condition, they have frequently 
said, 'I feel much better to-day; I have had a most 
copious flow of urine, which has afforded me great relief.' 
This view of the connexion between the lungs and kid- 
neys has been confirmed by witnessing the diuretic effects 
of the Red sulphur water in pulmonary diseases. I have 
a friend, who is a physician, and who has labored, more 
or less, under pulmonary disease for twenty years. He 
informed me that, whenever his lungs were disturbed by 
irritation, he always resorted to i cooling diuretic medi- 
cines for relief/ 

u There were but few persons laboring under the third 
or last stage of tuberculous disease, who visited the Red 
Sulphur this season, and among those few, there was 
scarcely a case that derived any advantage from the use 
of the water. When tuberculous disease arrives at this 
stage, and the constitution is broken down, it is not only 
useless but cruel to send the patient to the Red Sulphur ■ 



158 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

I am sorry to say, that several of my patients in this 
condition, by my advice, visited the Red Sulphur this 
season, and I witnessed the bad effects of the water in 
their cases, as well as in the cases of others of a similar 
character. They were laboring under that peculiar irri- 
tation, and perhaps ulceration of the bowels, so common 
in this stage of the disease. They were unable to drink 
but a small quantity of the water, and the consequence 
was, that the bowels were purged and griped, the secre- 
tion of the kidneys was not increased, and the patient 
grew worse daily/' 

"The Red Sulphur has been considered peculiarly 
adapted to the cure of pulmonary diseases, and it is true 
{hat it has a most beneficial influence in most cases of 
this disease; but its good effects equally extend ta all 
cases of sub-acute inflammation, whether seated in the 
stomach, liver, spleen, intestines, kidneys, bladder, and 
most particularly in the mucous membrane." 

It is also used with good effects in chronic bowel com- 
plaints, leucorrhoea, gleet, catarrh of the bladder, and in 
some forms of uterine derangement. 

"Many persons arrive at the Red Sulphur, who are 
not prepared to use the water, in consequence of high in- 
flammation, or congestion of the lungs, or other organs, 
attended with pain in the side, constriction at the breast, 
or hot and restless nights, with a quick, sharp pulse ; all 
such cases must have the vascular excitement subdued 
before the water can be taken with any advantage." 

Dr. Huntt gives the following directions for the use of 
the water : 



v 



RED. SULPHUR SPRINGS. 159 

"If the system should be too plethoric, or too much 
excited, the use of the water should be postponed until 
the excitement shall be reduced to a proper state. Com- 
mence by taking one glass of water at bed-time, and one 
before breakfast ; after a few days, take two glasses at 
bed-time, and two before breakfast, one at 11 o'clock, A. 
M., and one at 5, P. M. ; this quantity will generally 
operate freely on the bowels ; if it should fail to produce 
this effect, a little common salt, magnesia, or cream of 
tartar may be added. If it is desired to act on the kid- 
neys, increase the quantity of water to three or four 
glasses between a light supper and bed-time, and the 
same quantity between day-light in the morning and 
breakfast-time, two glasses at noon, and one or two glasses 
about 5 o'clock, P. M., taking care to exercise freely 
after drinking. The most proper periods for using the 
water are, at night before bed-time, and in the morning 
before breakfast time." 



CHAPTER VIII 



BLUE SULPHUR SPRING. 



This Spring is situated in Greenbrier County, thirteen 
miles from Lewisburg, twenty-three from the White Sul- 
phur Springs, and thirty-two from the Red Sulphur, on 
the great thoroughfare leading to Cuyandotte. 

The knowledge of this Spring dates far back into the 
early history of Western Virginia. It was first known 
as a lick y and being in the vicinity of the Sewel Moun- 
tains, attracted vast herds of buffalo and deer. It was 
soon, however, discovered to possess powerful sanative 
influences, producing the most extraordinary results in 
the cure of indolent ulcers and chronic diseases of the 
skin. It soon became a popular neighborhood resort for 
many of the sick and afflicted. The notoriety thus ex- 
cited led to a scientific examination of its qualities, which 
resulted in a confirmation of its sanative power; and 
now it deservedly ranks high among the sulphuretted 
waters of our country. 

The locality of the Blue Sulphur is within the geo- 
graphical limits of the mineral fountains — both sulphu- 

160 



BLUE SULPHUR SPRING. 161 

retted and thermal — of the mountains of Virginia, and 
enjoys to a full extent their balmy influence and the 
striking grandeur of their sublime scenery. 

This watering place has been improved by an enter- 
prising company, living in this and the adjoining coun- 
ties, with great attention to the comfort and convenience 
of their guests. The buildings consist of a large brick 
Hotel, 180 feet long and three stories high. From each 
side of this centre building are wings two stories high 
and 109 feet long, with piazzas running their entire 
length, and so constructed that the invalid need in no 
wise suffer from any inclemency of the weather. 

The fountain rises in the centre of an extensive and 
beautiful lawn, and is covered by a massive and well- 
devised temple. The Spring, which is directly in front 
of the hotel, is enclosed in a handsome white marble box, 
five feet in diameter, the sides of which are coated with 
a pink deposite, imparting to its cool, crystaline water a 
peculiar opalescent tinge. Nothing of the kind can be 
more beautiful or more inviting than this elegant pool of 
water. It flows off in a bold stream, and is soon received 
into pipes, and conducted away for bathing purposes. 

The following is the quantitative analysis of this water, 
as made by Prof. Rodgers, of the University of Virginia : 

Temperature variable, from 45° to 46°. 

Solid matter procured by evaporation from 100 cubic 
inches, weighed, after being dried at 212°, 44.22 grains. 

Quantity of each solid ingredient in 100 cubic inches, 
estimated as free from water : 



162 



MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 



In 100 cub. inches. In 231 cub. inches. 



Sulph. lime, 


20.152 gi 


*ains. 


46.551 gi 


rains. 


Sulph. magnesia, 


2.760 


a 


6.375 


a 


Sulph. soda, 


7.020 


a 


16.218 


(C 


Carb. lime, 


2.185 


a 


5.047 


u 


Carb. magnesia, - 


0.407 


a 


0.940 


u 


Chi. sodium, 


■ 1.868 


a 


4.215 


a 


Chi. calcium, 


0.005 . 


C( 


0.011 


cc 


Protoxide iron, received 










from prot. sulph. 


0.015 


a 


0.034 


u 


An azotized organic mat- 










ter, blended with sul- 










phur, 


3.000 


a 


6.930 


a 




37.413 


86.321 









Earthy phosphates, a trace — iodine, a trace. 



Volume of each of the gases in a free state : 



In 100 cub. inches. In 231 cub. inches. 



Sulph. hydrogen, 


0.45^0 46 gr. 


1.03 gr. 


Nitrogen, 


3.25 " 


7.49 " 


Oxygen, 


0.56 / « 


1.29 « 


Carb. acid, 


2.75 « 


6.35 « 



Total cubic inches, 7.01 



16.16 



BLUE SULPHUR SPRING. 163 



Therapeutical Agency, &c., &c. 

* " In Chronic Diseases, I have found no agent so 
potent as mineral water, and none from which relief may 
be more confidently expected. 

Nervous Diseases — under which head may be classed 
hypochondria, hysteria, catalepsy, choria, &c, originating 
from disordered digestion — are successfully treated by 
this water. 

Chronic Hepatitis. — In whatever form this disease 
presents itself, either in tissue or secretion, this water is 
a valuable remedy. Its power as an emulgent and as an 
alterative upon the liver, in some instances, is astonishing ; 
the icterode appearance of the skin rapidly fading, the 
secretions changing, and the digestion strengthening.. 
In connection with chronic hepatitis, I may class jaundice 
and splenitis. 

Amenorrhoza and Irregular Menstruation. — In these 
types of uterine disease, I have had the best results from 
themse of the water; nay, the frequent cures that have 
come directly under my observation, warrant me in re- 

*I ara indebted to my friend, Br. John A. Hunter, who has been 
the resident physician at the Blue Sulphur for a number of years, for 
this account of the therapeutical agency of this mineral water. Dr. 

, H. is a very intelligent and discriminating physician, with an amount 
of experience in the use of these waters that entitles his opinion to 

I great confidence. 



164 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

commending the use of the water in such cases with 
confidence. 

Chronic Diseases of the Urinary Organs. — In calcu- 
lous affections, I doubt its utility, as all acid calculous 
affections require a greater amount of alkalinity than this 
spring possesses. Consequently, the remedial effect is 
equivocal. But in all cases of chronic irritation of the 
mucous membrane of the kidneys, bladder, or prostate 
gland, its value is unquestionable. 

In Chronic Diseases of the Skin, the water is used 
successfully, and particularly in that class of scaly dis- 
ease (order, squamae,) where the opaque and thickened 
laminae of the cuticle are a product of inflammation in 
the true skin ; and not unfrequently is it found valuable 
in the slighter forms of psoriasis, when the cuticle alone, 
or the rete mucosum, appears to be in a morbid condition. 
In that variety of disease, including lepra, psoriasis and 
icthryosis, I have witnessed results from the use of the 
water, conjoined with the baths, rare and unexpected." 

It may be added, that the Spring has attached to it 
an excellent Bathing Establishment, consisting of shower, 
warm and tepid baths, medicated and vapour, under the 
control of Dr. Martin, whose long experience with them 
well qualifies him to judge of their medical applicability. 



CHAPTER IX 



SWEET SPRINGS. 



The Sweet Springs are situated in a charming valley in 
the eastern extremity of Monroe county. They are 17 
miles south-east from the White Sulphur, and 22 east 
from the Salt Sulphur. 

These springs were discovered in 1764, before any of 
the other mineral waters in this section of the State were 
known. In 1774, they had attracted so much attention, 
as to be analyzed by Bishop Madison, then President of 
William and Mary College. 

The beautiful valley in which the spring is situated, is 
about five miles in length, and from one-half to three- 
fourths of a mile in width, and is bounded on the south 
by the lofty Sweet Spring mountain, and on the north by 
the Alleghany. The spring and bath are situated in the 
lower end of a small hollow or valley, that makes out 
from the base of the Sweet Spring mountain, from which 
the ground gradually swells on either side. Contiguous 
to the spring is a grove of a few old natives of the forest, 
that have fortunately escaped the axe of the spoiler, 
which, together with a fine sodding of grass, give the 
I means of a pleasant promenade in good weather. 

165 



166 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

The hotel accommodations at the " Sweet" are now 
extensive and comfortable, being sufficient for 300 per- 
sons. The property is owned by three enterprising gen- 
tlemen, Messrs. Caperton, Echols and Bierne, who are 
now making preparations for enlarging the capacity of the 
place for accommodating visiters, and also for adorning 
and beautifying the grounds. The energy and enterprise 
of these gentlemen, with the ample means at their com- 
mand, give a guarantee for the speedy accomplishment of 
every improvement at this place, which the public conve- 
nience or a correct taste can demand. 

"The water of the spring (Bell) rises into a large 
cylindrical reservoir, from opposite sides of which it flows 
out by small pipes , one conveying water to the bath for 
the men, the other to that for the ladies. The men's 
bath is of a quadrangular form, surrounded by a wall, 
and open at top. It is of tolerable extent and clear — 
the bottom being of gravel, ajid the water constantly 
flowing in and as constantly passing out, after it reaches 
a certain height. 

"The temperature of the Sweet Spring is 73° Fah., 
the same as that which, in England, by a strange blun- 
der, is called Bristol Hot Well. There is considerable 
resemblance between the two in other respects, as well in 
the evolution of carbonic acid, as in the earthy and saline 
matters held in solution. In the Virginia Spring, how- 
ever, iron has been detected ; whereas the Bristol Hot 
Well has none in its composition: 

" By the analysis of Bowelle, one quart of the Sweet 
Spring water contains — 



SWEET SPRINGS. 167 

Saline substances in general, 12 to 15 grains. 
Earthy substances, - 18 to 24 M 

Iron, - - - | to 1 grain. 

u The saline substances are sulphate of magnesia, mu- 
riate of soda, and muriate of lime, with a little sulphate 
of lime. The earthy matters consist of sulphate of lime, 
a small portion of carbonate of magnesia and lime, with 
a small portion of silicious earth." 

Professor Wm. B. Rodgers, late of the University of 
Virginia, in the course of his geological survey of the 
State, analyzed the waters of the Sweet Spring, with the 
following results : 

1st. Solid matter procured by evaporation from 100 

cubic inches, - • 32.67 

A portion of this is combined with water. 

2d. Quantity of each solid ingredient, estimated as 
perfectly free from water, in 100 cubic inches : 

Sulphate of lime, - - - 5.703 

Sulphate of magnesia, - - 4.067 

Sulphate of soda, - 2.746 

Carbonate of lime, - 13.013 

Chloride of sodium, - - , 0.060 

Chloride of magnesium, - - 0.136 

Chloride of calcium, - - - 0.065 

Peroxide of iron, (Sesqui oxide,) - 0.061 

Silica, - - - - ' - 0.075 

Earthy phosphate, - - - a trace. 



168 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

3d. Volume of each of the gases contained in a free 
state in 100 cubic inches of the water : 

Carbonic acid, - 37.17 

Nitrogen, - - - 1.86 ' 

Oxygen, - - - a trace. 

Sulphuretted hydrogen, a trace too small to be mea- 
sured. 
4th. Composition of 100 cubic inches of the mixed 
gases rising in bubbles in the spring : 

Nitrogen, - - - - 71.7 
Carbonic acid, - - - 28.3 

The chief distinguishing feature of this water is the 
predominance of the carbonic acid (fixed air) which it 
contains, and it is properly regarded as the best example 
of the acidulous waters that is found in our country. 

*Few mineral waters have acquired such fashionable 
and well merited celebrity as the Sweet Springs. The 
name is calculated to convey erroneous impressions of 
their taste, which is like a solution of a small quantity of 
a calcareous or magnesian carbonate. The excess of car- 
bonic acid gives, however, the water a briskness, produc- 
tive of a very different effect on the palate from what an 
imperfect mixture of the earths would produce. 

The first effects oT this water, due to its temperature 
and gaseous contents, when drunk, are a feeling of warmth 
at the stomach, with a sensation of fullness of the head, 
and some giddiness. Taken at stated intervals in moele- 

*BeII on Baths and Mineral Waters. 



SWEET SPRINGS. 169 

rate quantity, it will produce a moisture on the skin, and 
increase the flow of urine. If the stomach be in a good 
state, it gives additional appetite, and imparts fresh vigor 
to the system. Its operations on the bowels vary at first, 
but after a more protracted use, it will generally be found 
to increase a costive habit. 

The Sweet Spring water is serviceable in the varieties 
of dyspepsia accompanied by gastrodynia or spasm, with 
pains occurring at irregular intervals, and heart burn — 
where the extremities are cold and the skin torpid. In 
secondary debility of the digestive canal, from the ex- 
hausting heats of summer, or in chronic diarrhoea and 
dysentery, without fever, or not sustained by hepatic 
inflammation, much good will be produced by the inter- 
nal use of these waters. 

- If much gastric irritation, or evident phlogosis of the 
liver be present, with a parched skin and other phe- 
nomena of fever, it will be better to premise one or two 
small bleedings, followed by the use of a blue pill at 
night, and a tumbler-full or two of the water, to which 
has been added a tea-spoonful of Epsom salts, or twice 
the quantity of calcined magnesia, early in the morning. 

The harrassing cough to which young persons are occa- 
sionally subject, and which often has its origin in an en- 
feebled state of the stomach, or in scrofulous habits from 
the enlargement of the bronchial glands — as also the 
tussis humor alis of old people — will all be materially 
benefited by the use of these waters. The relief afforded 
in such cases as these has usually given Bristol Hot 



170 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

Well its reputation in the cure of pulmonary con- 
sumption." 

Females who have become enervated by long confine- 
ment, or from nursing their children, and whose consti- 
tutions have suffered for want of exercise and fresh air, 
will be greatly benefited by the use of these walers, in- 
ternally and as a bath. 

In sub-acute rheumatism, and in neuralgic attacks, the 
Sweet Spring bath is often eminently useful. In the 
closing stages of acute rheumatism, the patient is often 
harrassed with a lingering irritability of his system, with 
tenderness, pain and inability in the diseased joints, some- 
times attended with slight feverishness, especially toward 
the close of the day. 

In such cases, while hot or warm bathing would be 
injurious, the baths of the Sweet or Red Sweet Springs 
may be resorted to with the best effects. The use of the 
spout, in such cases, is valuable, ,by placing the diseased 
part under the falling water, and allowing it to receive 
the dash for a short time. 

A very efficacious way of applying this water to the 
surface is by douche — the stream being directed to 
the part in which the disease is situated, wherever there 
is " augmented heat and fixed pain, as over the stomach, 
or liver, or abdomen generally, above the pubis, or on 
the loins and sacrum; also to the joints, when the vio- 
lence of inflammation has not yet subsided, nor passed 
entirely into the chronic state. If the irritation of the 
stomach forbids the drinking of the water, douching the 
epigastrium would form a good preparative for its use in 



SWEET SPRINGS. 171 

this way. Lumbago, with some evening fever, chlorosis, 
or fluor albus, with heat and pain at the loins, would be 
benefited by douching this part. 

" As we should have inferred from the excess of car- 
bonic acid, and the presence of earthy carbonates in the 
water, it is useful in calculous and nephritic complaints." 

The Sweet Spring waters, internally and externally 
employed, are adapted to a large circle of cases. As a 
tonic, in cases of pure debility, they may be used with 
great confidence — always, however, regarding this as an 
aphorism, that they are contra-indicated , and should be 
withheld in all cases in which there is positive congestion 
in any of the vital organs. 

The first sensation on immersion in the Sweet Spring 
bath is a slight shock, which speedily passes off, leaving 
the bather with the most agreeable sensations while he 
disports himself in the sparkling pool. 

The freedom and advantage with which this bath has 
been used by aged persons, is evidence of its general 
safety. 

In using the bath, " the chief points to be attended to 
are, that the skin should not be moist or cold with per- 
spiration, nor that there shall be general chill, nor the 
languor that follows excessive muscular action. The 
stomach also should be nearly empty, or at least not 
actively engaged in its work of digestion." Many per- 
sons are injudicious in remaining too long in the bath. 
From two to ten minutes will embrace periods adapted to 
every condition, and only the most robust should remain 
in the last mentioned time. In a large majority of cases, 



172 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

indeed in all cases in which there is much general de- 
bility, from tivo to five minutes, according to circum- 
stances, will embrace the proper periods for remaining in 
the bath. It is often advantageous to bathe twice or 
thrice a day, and this can be done safely in all cases, pro- 
vided the patient does not remain too long in the water 
at any one time. 



x. 



CHAPTER X. 



REB SWEET, OR SWEET CHALYBEATE SPRING. 



One mile North of the Sweet Springs, on the road 
leading to the White Sulphur, and just within the 
Southern border of Alleghany County, are the Red 
Sweet Springs. 

This property was originally owned and improved by 
Mr. Philip Rogers, who for many years kept the old 
Sweet Springs. About the year 1845, it became the 
property of John R. Sampson, Esq., who occupied it for 
several years and still further improved it. It is now 
owned by Mr. C. Bias, formerly of Memphis, Tennessee, 
who occupies it and is devoting a large amount of energy 
to its further improvement. 

This property, embracing about 1700 acres of land, 
affords one of the most productive farms in the State — a 
very great convenience to a spring establishment in re- 
ference to its supplies. 

The improvements subservient to the Springs are spa- 
cious, well-designed and comfortable, and are sufficient 

173 



174 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

for the accommodation of about two hundred visiters. 
In the course of another year, they will be considerably 
enlarged, with the view of meeting the demands of a 
constantly increasing patronage. 

There are two medical springs at this establishment, 
the one a few paces below the hotel, essentially the same, 
both in quality and temperature, with the old Sweet 
Springs; indeed, it may bf? regarded as identically the 
same water. The other, some forty rods, perhaps, above 
the hotel, is in many respects like it, but containing a 
much larger quantity of iron, which, being abundantly 
deposited in the form of a red precipitate, has given it 
the name of Red Spring. 

The water of the Eed Spring, which is the character- 
istic water of the place, and most relied upon both for 
drinking and bathing, issues from beneath heavy and 
irregular limestone arches, just at the head of a narrow 
cove formed by a projecting hill on one side, and on the 
other by large masses of porous stone, probably deposited 
there from the Sweet Spring water, which once flowed in 
this direction. 

Th^re are here three fountains, separated by narrow 
stone petitions, but all running into one common sluice. 
The upper and boldest of these fountains is about two 
degrees colder than the two lower ones, and evidently 
contains less of ferruginous matter. The water issuing 
from all of them, is probably two hundred and fifty gal- 
lons in a minute. 

The water of the Red Spring has been twice analyzed, 
first by Rowelle, and then by Professor Eodgers. 



RED SWEET SPRING. 175 

According to Rowelle, one quart of this water con- 
tains : 

Carbonate of lime, - - 4 grains. 

Carbonate of magnesia, - - 3 (l 

Carbonate of iron ; - - - 2 

Silex. 1 

Sulphate of magnesia, 1 

Muriate of soda, J 

Iron combined, : 1 

Carbonic acid. 

The following is the result of an analysis by Professor 
Rodgers of this water : 

1st. Solid matter procured by evaporation from 100 
cubic inches, weighed after being greatly dried at 112° 
40.76. 

A portion of this is combined water. 

2d. Quantity of each solid ingredient estimated as per- 
fectly free from water. In 100 cubic inches : 

Sulphate of lime, - - 14.233 

Sulphate of magnesia, - - 3.107 

Sulphate of soda, - - 1.400 

Carbonate of lime, - - 1.166 

Chloride of sodium, - - 0.037 

Chloride of magnesium, - - 0.680 

Chloride of calcium, - . 0.010 

Sesquioxide of iron, - - 0.320 

Organic matter in small quantities. 
Iodine, a mere trace. 



176 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

The iron is no doubt dissolved in the water as a car- 
bonate. 

3d. Volume of each of the gases contained in a free 
state, in 100 cubic inches of the water. 

Carbonic acid, - - 46.10 cubic inches. 
Nitrogen, - - 2.57 " 

Oxygen, - - .20 " 

Sulphuretted hydrogen, a trace, too small to be 
measured. 

4th. Composition of 100 cubic inches of the mixed 
gases rising in bubbles in the spring : 

Nitrogen, 62.5 

Carbonic acid, - - - 37.5 

The temperature of the Red Spring water, as it issues 
from three different heads, is from 75° to 79°. Frequent 
examinations of this Spring with a thermometer induces 
me to believe that its temperature is slightly variable, 
never exceeding, however, one or two degrees of va- 
riation. 

The analysis of the Red Sweet and Sweet Spring wa- 
ters, by the same chemist, show that they contain essen- 
tially the same ingredients, but in different proportions, 
both the salts and the gases being more abundant in the 
former. The chief difference in the medical effect of the 
two waters is probably owing to the larger quantity of 
iron held in solution by the Red Sweet. While the 
Sweet Spring contains of iron 0.061 in 100 cubic inches 
of its water, the Red Sweet in the same amount of water 



RED SWEET SPRING. 177 

contains 0.320, or about four-fifths in excess. This goes, 
so far as analysis can be satisfactory, to prove its higher 
tonic power. The iron in this water exists in the form of 
a carbonate, held in solution by carbonic acid gas, consti- 
tuting the mildest, and at the same time the most efficient 
preparation of our ferruginous waters. 

"While the carbonic acid gas in the Red Sweet is 41.10, 
against 37.17 in the Sweet, the carbonates as a whole 
largely prevail in the latter. Again, while the sulphate 
of lime is much the largest in the Red Sweet, the sul- 
phates of magnesia and soda, both aperient in their char- 
acter, decidedly predominate in the Sweet Spring waters. 
It may be noted that iodine, in small quantity, is found 
in the Red Sweet, and not in the Sweet ; but its quantity 
is doubtless very small, and I am not aware of any pecu- 
liar effects of the water that can with certainty be 
attributed to this agent. It may possibly exert some 
beneficial influence as a tonic in combination with the 
other ingredients. From a review of the analysis of 
these two interesting waters, as well as from observation 
of their effects on disease, it would not be very inaccu- 
rate to say that the Red is the Sweet Spring water with 
a strong iron base. But medical men, who should look 
closely into the peculiarities of remedial agents, will find 
upon careful scrutiny of these, that the difference in the 
amount and combination of their materials must modify, 
to some extent, their therapeutical agency upon the hu- 
man system, and that, according to the practical object 
they wish to effect, they should select one or the other of 
them. 



178 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

As a general rule, it is fallacious to adopt the analysis 
of a mineral water as a guide in its administration. 
Although an analysis as correct as can be obtained in the 
present state of chemical science, is an important assis- 
tant in understanding the general nature of remedial 
waters, and in aiding in the formation of general conclu- 
sions in relation to them ; still, actual observation of the 
peculiar effects of these agents is greatly more satisfac- 
tory, and far more to be relied upon. Mineral waters 
often produce effects upon the animal economy that are 
not indicated by their analysis, and in some cases they 
produce results that are directly contra-indicated. But, 
in reference to these particular waters, there seems to be 
quite a concurrence between the indications afforded 
by their analysis and actual observation as to their effects. 

With both these lights before us, we are forced to 
regard the Red Spring water as being more decidedly 
tonic in its influences upon the system than the water of 
the Sweet Spring, and somewhat more exciting, too ; 
hence, all the cautions that have been urged in reference 
to the contra-indications of the use of the Sweet Spring- 
water apply even with more force as to the use of this. 

From the same lights, we also learn that, as a very 
gentle aperient, and a mild and somewhat less exciting 
tonic, the Sweet Springs have the preference, and espe- 
cially in such cases as do not admit or require the use of 
chalybeates. The diuretic effect is about the same from 
the use of either water. 

These general principles may, to some extent, I hope, 
indicate the class of cases that will be most benefited by 



RED SWEET SPRING. 179 

one or the other of these springs. But it must be con- 
fessed that the subject is sometimes an intricate one, 
requiring a full knowledge of the case, with a careful 
comparative estimate of the powers of the two waters, 
to decide with certainty under the use of which the 
patient will be most benefited. There is, however, a 
large class of cases that will be essentially, if not equally 
benefited by the use of either of these waters. To such 
cases as require the use of the iron tonics, the Red Sweet 
water is peculiarly well adapted, and may be prescribed 
with great confidence. 

In neuralgic affections, unattended with organic lesion 
or obstructions, this water is used with very general success, 
and rarely fails to ameliorate or cure such cases. The 
writer has great cause to speak favorably of this water 
in neuralgia, not only from its success in a large number 
of patients for whom he has advised its use, but espe- 
cially in his own case. In the summer of 1842, he spent 
several weeks here, using the water externally and inter- 
nally, for a sciatic neuralgia, under the painful effects of 
which he had been entirely prostrated for several months. 
To describe the great relief which he derived, would de- 
mand the language of enthusiasm. For more than two 
months he had been unable to turn in his bed, and during 
all this time suffering untold misery. Before using this 
water, he underwent a three week's course of the White 
Sulphur, which, although it did not relieve the pain, 
brought his general system into a good condition for the 
use of tonics. Unable to sit up, he was conveyed, lying 



180 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

upon a bed in a carriage, to this place, and immediately 
entered upon the use of the water and bath. The effects 
were as remarkable as they were prompt and happy. In 
a word, he here found a speedy and effectual remedy for 
this Protean and painful disease, after all other remedies 
had failed. 

In speaking of the waters of the Red Sweet and Sweet 
Springs, I wish to be understood as alluding to the baths, 
as well as to the internal use of the waters. In a large 
majority of cases, the bath is doubtless the most promi- 
nent agent in effecting a cure. Merely as a bath, there 
is probably little difference in the effects of the two 
Springs. The temperature of the Red Sweet bath is two 
or three degrees warmer than the bath at the Sweet. 
This in some cases would be a difference of impor- 
tance, and not to be overlooked by the physician or the 
invalid. 

The effects experienced after coming out of these baths, 
provided the patient has not indulged himself in them 
too long, are as remarkable as they are agreeable. They 
differ widely from the effects of an ordinary cold bath. 
There is an elasticity and buoyancy of body and spirit 
that makes one feel like leaping walls or clearing ditches 
at a single bound. It cannot be from the absorption of 
any of the materials of the water by the cutaneous ves- 
sels. The few minutes that we remain in the water, es- 
pecially the very short time after the stricture of the 
skin from the first plunge has passed off, forbids such an 
idea. May it not be owing to a stimulant impression 
imparted by the carbonic acid gas to ' the nerves of the 



RED SWEET SPRING. 181 

skin, and by sympathy extended rapidly ovev the whole 
body? 

Immediately on the bank of the creek, and about two 
hundred yards from the Red Sweet, a Sulphur Spring 
exists, which copiously deposits its salts in large white 
flakes. This Spring has not been improved, nor have its 
virtues been tested. Its sensible qualities, however, 
afford favorable indications of its value as a medicinal 
water. 



CHAPTER XI. 



HOT SPRINGS. 



This celebrated bathing establishment is situated in 
the county of Bath, thirty-five miles north-east from 
the White Sulphur, and immediately on the great tho- 
roughfare from the capital of the State to the Ohio river. 
It is owned by Dr. Goode, who resides on the premises, 
and personally directs in its management. Comfortable 
bathing houses have been erected for the accommodation 
both of male and female patients. In each of these 
houses suitable arrangements are made for taking the 
sweat or plunge bath, as may be desired ; or for receiving 
the douche when it may be required. 

"There are six baths at this place/' (Dr. Goode,) 
" each supplied with water from a separate spring; they 
range in temperature from 100° to 106^° of heat. The 
effects of these waters in disease prove that they are 
highly medicated, though they are considered by many 
as simple hot water. They are known to contain sul- 
phate and carbonate of lime, sulphate of soda and mag- 
nesia, a minute portion of muriate of iron, carbonic acid 
gas, nitrogen gas, and a trace of sulphuretted hydrogen 



isa 



HOT SPRINGS. 183 

gas ; and when used internally some of the consequences 
are such as we might expect from our knowledge of their 
constituent parts. 

" But the chemical composition of a mineral water can 
lead to no safe conclusions as to its medical powers. Its 
most potent part may be incapable of analysis, or de- 
stroyed by the process, and its mere properties cannot be 
developed by analysis; our only sure test is experience 
of the actual result when applied to the diseased human 
system. I have been at the Hot Springs for six entire 
seasons, and have watched their effects on several thou- 
sand invalids with all the interest which ownership could 
excite, and the result of my experience is as follows : — 
' these waters, taken internally, are anti-acid, mildly ape- 
rient, and freely diuretic and diaphoretic. But when 
'used as a general bath their effects are great and excel 
all expectation. They equalize an unbalanced circula- 
tion, and thereby restore the different important parts of 
the system when torpid — that natural and peculiar sensi- 
bility, upon the existence of which their capacity to per- 
form their several functions, and the beneficial action of 
all remedies depend. They relax contracted tendons; 
excite the action of absorbent vessels ; promote glandular 
secretion ; exert a marked and salutary influence over the 
biliary and urinary systems, and often relieve, in a short 
time, excruciating pain, caused by palpable and long 
standing disease in some vital organ. " 

These waters are suited only to chronic conditions of 
the system. Dr. James Johnson, of London, after 



184 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

enumerating the diseases in which Thermal Waters are 
inadmissible, adds, "But there is a long catalogue of 
chronic disorders, to which thermal medicinal waters, 
both internally and externally applied, prove extremely 
useful. Thermal waters act in three principal ways on 
the human machine : 1st, through the medium of sensa- 
tion, on the nervous system j 2d, through the agency of 
their temperature, on the vascular system; and 3d, by 
means of their chemical contents, on the secretory and 
excretory organs. In most chronic complaints, and espe- 
cially in rheumatism, gout, cutaneous defedations, neu- 
ralgia, dyspepsia, glandular swellings, and visceral ob- 
structions, there is pain, uneasiness or discomfort of some 
kind, which, indeed, constitutes the chief grievance of 
the individual. It is no unimportant matter to soothe 
those sufferings during the process employed for the cure. 
The warm bath effects this purpose in an eminent degree, 
through its agency on the sentient extremities of the 
nerves distributed over the surface of the body. There 
is an extensive chain of sympathies established between 
the skin and the internal viscera, and through the me- 
dium of this channel, agreeable sensations excited on the 
exterior, are very often communicated to the central 
organs and structures themselves. Even in this way, 
torpid secretions are frequently roused into activity and 
improved in quality, while the secretory apparatus itself 
is relieved from a host of painful feelings" 

These waters have been critically analyzed by Prof. 
William B. Rodgers, of the University of Virginia. 






HOT SPRINGS. 185 



The saline ingredients in 100 


cubic inches of water 


are — 






Carbonate of lime, 


- 


7.013 


Carbonate magnesia, 


. 


1.324 


Sulphate of lime, 


- 


1.302 


Sulphate magnesia, 


- 


1.530 


Sulphate soda, 


'- 


1.363 


Chloride of sodium and magnesium, 




with a trace of chloride of calcium, 


0.105 


Proto-carbonate of iron, 


- 


0.096 


Silica, ■ - 


- 


0.045 



12.778 

The free gas consists of nitrogen, oxygen and carbonic 
acid gas. It also contains a mere trace of sulph. hy- 
drogen. 

The heat of the human body, as ascertained by insert- 
ing the bulb of a thermometer under the tongue, is 
about 96° — sometimes as high as 98°; and these degrees 
seem to be the same, with little variation, in all parts of 
the world, neither affected, in the healthy body, by the 
heat of the torrid nor the cold of the frigid zones. But 
this, however, relates only to the internal temperature of 
the body; the heat of the skin is very variable, and 
generally considerably below the degree of animal heat. 
This arises from the great cooling process of evaporation, 
constantly going on over the whole surface ; its sensibility 
to all external impressions, and its exposure to the atmos- 
phere, which seldom rises so high as 98°, even in the 
highest heats of summer. 



186 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

From a view of these causes, we will easily be led to 
perceive why a bath heated to 98° gives a strong and de- 
cided sense of warmth to the skin ; and a sensation of 
slight warmth, rather than of chilliness, is felt ; even 
several degrees below this point. 

"Whenever a bath is raised above the degree of animal 
heat, it then becomes a direct stimulus to the whole 
system, rapidly accelerates the pulse, increases the force 
of the circulation, renders the skin red and susceptible, 
and the vessels full and turgid. 

The temperature of the Hot Spring baths, ranging 
from 100° to 106°, must be decidedly stimulant, and the 
more or less so according to the particular bath employed. 
It is probably to their stimulant power that we are 
mainly indebted for their curative virtue. The soothing 
and tranquilizing effects which often follow their use, is 
the result of their sanative influence in bringing the 
organism into a normal condition,. 

Hot baths are potent and positive agents. When 
applied to the human body they are never negative in 
their influences, but will do either much good or much 
harm, according to the judgment and skill with which 
they are employed. 

Their stimulant influences forbid their use in all acute 
diseases, and they are contra-indicated in such chronic 
cases as are attended with high vascular excitement, or 
exalted nervous susceptibility. There are nevertheless a 
large number of chronic diseases- in which hot bathing 
constitutes the most rational and the chief reliance of the 
invalid. But these potent agents,. should never be pre- 



HOT SPRINGS. 187 

scribed merely for the name of a disease, however care- 
fully its nomenclature has been selected. The precise 
existing state of the system, whatever may be the pa- 
thology of the disease, ought always to be carefully 
looked to before a course of hot bathing is directed. 

These baths are found eminently useful in most cases 
of chronic rheumatism, in the various forms of gout. In 
local paralysis, occasioned by the use of any of the 
mineral poisons, or in metastasis of gout, rheumatism or 
other diseases, these baths may be used with good effect. 
Chronic bronchitis, especially if connected with a gouty 
diathesis ; deafness, connected with defective or vitiated 
secretions of the membrane of the ear; old sprains, or 
other painful injuries of the joints, are often much bene- 
fited -by the use of the baths. 

Diseases of the Uterine System, such as amenorrhea, 
painful dysmenorrhoea, &c, are often greatly relieved 
here. 

In some of the more obstinate forms of biliary de- 
rangements these baths are used with the most happy 
effects; particularly the hot douche, when applied over 
the region of the liver to relieve the torpor of that 
organ. 

There has already been so much written on the medi- 
cal applicability of thermal waters, that I have not 
thought it necessary here to do more than to lay down a 
few general principles to guide the invalid in their use, 
and to allude to some particular diseases, for the cure of 
which the Hot Springs are known to be well adapted. 



188 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

The cause of the high temperature of thermal springs 
has long been a matter of curious speculation. Some 
have attributed it to the agency of electricity ; but this 
must be regarded in the light of an ingenious specula- 
tion, rather than the result of observation and facts. It 
is very common now to regard phenomena as the result 
of electrical influences; principally, perhaps, because we 
know the agent to be very potent and pervading, but 
partly because of our ignorance of the general laws by 
which electricity is governed. But whatever the facts 
may be, there seems to be no proof approximating to a 
reasonable probability, that electricity is in any way con- 
cerned in producing the high temperature of thermal 
waters. 

Another theory, and one which elkits the largest 
amount of credence, perhaps, by scientific men, alleges, 
that "the heat of thermal springs is owing to the central 
heat of the globe, and that it increases in proportion to 
the depth from which they proceed. The philosopher 
Laplace embraced this theory, and it is, we believe, held 
by many geologists. It is urged,* and to some extent is 
well maintained, that, the " temperature of the earth in- 
creases, as we descend into it, about one degree for every 
hundred feet; and if the increase continues in this pro- 
portion, we should arrive at boiling water at the depth of 
less than three miles." In proof of this fact, the regu- 
lar increase of temperature as workmen have descended 
into the earth in boring the artesian well at Paris, now 

* See Prof. Daubeny's essay in the Sixth Report of the British 
Association for the*Advancement of Science. 



HOT SPRINGS. 189 

1800 feet deep, and throwing out by a subterranean 
power an immense volume of warm water, might be cited. 
But what are we to do with the obviously refuting fact 
exhibited in the salt wells at Kanawha in our own State ? 
Several of these wells have been bored to the depth of 
sixteen or seventeen hundred feet, and, as we are in- 
formed, without any appreciable increase of temperature. 

Other theorists suppose that thermal springs owe their 
temperature to circumscribed volcanoes, and that such 
springs are a sort of safety valve to those subterraneous 
conflagrations. " It is well known that an earthquake, 
or an eruption of a volcano, has often produced a change 
in the temperature of thermal springs that were even at 
some distance from the place where these phenomena 
occurred. 

There is still another theory, " that supposes that the 
heat of these springs is produced by certain processes 
going on in the interior of the earth, and that these pro- 
cesses are attended with an absorption of oxygen and a 
consequent extrication of caloric." In the absence of 
any positive knowledge on the subject, this theory would 
seem to be sustained by as much probability as any of 
the others that have been alluded to. But this is a sub- 
ject that falls strictly within the province of geology, and 
the zeal and success with which that science is now being 
prosecuted, afford us reasonable grounds to look to its 
votaries for some elucidation of this curious topic. 



CHAPTER XII 



WARM SPRINGS. 



The Warm Springs are situated in a narrow vale, at 
the Western base of the Warm Spring Mountain, in the 
County of Bath, fifty miles West of Staunton, and five 
miles N. E. from the Hot Springs. They are among 
the oldest of our watering places, having been resorted 
to on account of their medicinal virtues for more than 
seventy years. The property was , patented by Governor 
Fauquier to the Lewis family in 1760. For many years 
it was owned by the late Dr. John Brockenbrough, of 
Richmond, who devised it to his two interesting grand- 
daughters, also the grand-daughters of the distinguished 
Dr. Chapman, of Philadelphia. 

Several of our medicinal fountains claim to have been 
known and appreciated by the aborigines of the country. 
In reference to this particular one, there are many tales 
related by that venerable class, the oldest inhabitants, of 
the discovery and use of its waters by the Indians. One 
of the most interesting of these stories, and which pur- 
ports to be derived through the old bath-keeper at the 



mo 



WARM SPRINGS. 191 

Warm, is thus related by the eloquent pen of Mr. Otis, 
of Boston :* 

u A young Indian, more than two centuries ago, was 
coming from the Western valley of the great Appalachian 
mountains, towards the waters, of the East that opened 
into the beautiful bay, whose branches touched the 
strands of some of the mightiest marts of a nation that 
was not then in existence. He had never trodden that 
path before, and nothing but the pride of youth, which 
would not brook that his brethren of other tribes should 
triumph over him as their inferior in adventure, had sus- 
tained his manly heart so far, for he had come, since the 
rising sun first touched that day the mighty peaks of 
the Alleghanies, from the vales that lay at their feet on 
the West. He was going to carry the voice and vote of 
a powerful nation to the council-fire that was kindling on 
the banks of the great water, and he felt shame at the 
recurrence of the idea that the place of tke young Appa- 
lachian Leopard could be vacant. But the night winds 
beat coldly around him, and the way was dark. There 
had been rains, and the earth was damp and swampy ; 
and no grass, or fern, or heather was at hand with which 
to make a bed in the bosom of the valley where he stood. 
He had not strength to climb the near range of moun- 
tains that drew up their summits before, as if to shut 
out all hopes that he could accomplish his ardent desire. 
Weary, dispirited, and ready to despair, he came sud- 
denly upon an open space among the low under-wood that 

* Literary Messenger of March, 1838. 



192 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

covered the valley where he was wandering, and upon 
looking narrowly he observed that it was filled with 
water. He could see the clear reflection of the bright 
evening star that was just declining to her rest, and that 
was peeping into the fountain — 

1 Like a bride full of blushes, just lingering to take 
A last look in her mirror, at night, ere she goes/ 



tc 



By this translucent reflection, he could perceive that 
the water was clear, and its depth he could discern by 
the, pebbles that glistened in the star-light from the bot- 
tom. He saw, too, that the water was continually flow- 
ing off, and supplying a stream that ran rippling away 
among the roots of the oaks that surrounded the spot ; 
and as he stopped to taste the liquid element, he found 
it warm, as if inviting him to relax his chilled limbs by 
bathing in its tepid bosom. 

11 He laid # aside his bow and quiver, unstrung his 
pouch from his brawny shoulder, took off his moccasins, 
and plunged in, A new life invigorated his wearied 
spirit, new strength seemed given to his almost rigid 
nerves; he swam, he dived, he lay prostrate upon the 
genial waves in a sort of dreaming ecstacy of delight ; 
and when the first dawn of day broke over the rock- 
crowned hill, at the foot of which the Spring of Strength 
lay enshrined, the young Leopard came forth from his 
watery couch, and strode proudly up the mountain 'where 
path there was none/ 

" He was a 'young giant rejoicing to run his course/ 
Full of new fire and vigor, he manfully sped his way; 



WARM SPRINGS. 193 

and upon the eve of that day, when the chiefs and the 
sons of chiefs were seated around the solemn council-fire, 
no one of them all was found more graceful in address, more 
commanding in manner, more pleasing in look, and saga- 
cious in policy, than the young Appalachian Leopard, 
who bathed in the ' Spring of Strength/ " 

Of course, we do not vouch for the truth of this 
legend, but it is a matter of sober history, that very soon 
after the discovery of the Warm Springs by civilized 
man, they became celebrated for their curative qualities, 
in various diseases, as well as for the mere luxury of 
bathing ; and that they were frequented at much labor 
and fatigue by great multitudes, before any other (save 
the Sweet Springs) of the valuable watering places in 
Virginia were known. 

The waters of the Warm Springs have been analyzed 
by two distinguished chemists, and with such discrepancy 
in results as to afford indubitable evidence that an analysis 
is not to be implicitly relied on in the administration of 
mineral waters. 

The following is the analysis made by Professor Wm. 
B. Rodgers, of the University of Virginia : 

" The large bath is an octagon 38 feet in diameter; its 
arena is 1163.77 feet. The ordinary depth being five 
feet, (it can be increased to six,) the cubic capacity is 
5818.86 feet, or 43,533.32 gallons; notwithstanding the 
leaks, this quantity of water will flow into the reservoir 
in one hour. The average temperature of the bath is 
98° Fah. The gas which rises in the bath consists of 

K 



194 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

nitrogen, with minute quantities of sulphuretted hydro- 
gen and carbonic acid. 

" Besides this gas, each gallon ©f -water contains 4.5 
cubic inches of gas, consisting of — 

Nitrogen, - - - 3.25 cubic inches. 
Sulphuretted hydrogen, 0.25 " 

Carbonic acid, - - 1.00 u 

The saline contents of one gallon of the water are as 
follows : 

Muriate of lime, - 3.968 

Sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom salts,) 9.984 

Carbonate of lime, - 4.288 

Sulphate of lime, - - - 5.466 

And a trace of soda, - 0.000 



23.706 



The following is the analysis of the Warm Spring 
water by Mr. Hayes, of Roxbury, Massachusetts :* 

" In physical characters, this water resembles ordinary 
chalybeate waters. Recently drawn, it is clear, colorless, 
and in some degree sparkling, when agitated. Its taste 
is styptic or ferruginous, leaving the impression of a 
large amount of mineral matter being present. Agitated 
in the atmosphere, it becomes turbid, and deposits in fila- 
ments an ochry matter, consisting of oxide of iron and 
organic matter. 

#MinesaI Springs of Virginia. 



WARM SPRINGS. 195 

" The dissolved gaseous matter is carbonic acid, with 
nitrogen ; no oxygen is present. By heat it is rapidly 
changed, the deposit of ochry matter increasing in 
density, while gas is disengaged/ 

A standard gallon of this water, weighed at 60° Fah., 
afforded the following proximate constituents : 



1st. Sulphuric acid, - 


9.443 


grains: 


Carbonic acid, 


9.210 


u 


Silicic acid, 


0.990 


tt 


Organic acid, 


1.525 


tt 


2d. bases. Potash, 


0.741 


u 


Ammonia, 


0.110 


it 


Lime, 


8.906 


cc 


Magnesia, 


0.444 


a 


Protoxide of iron, 


0.973 


(C 


Alumina, 


0.290 


it 




32.632 


grains. 



" The change produced in this water by exposure to 
the air, or by heating it, indicates that the protoxide of 
iron exists in the water, united with organic acid. When 
silver salts are mixed with the freshly drawn water, the 
decomposition which follows is not attended by the color- 
ation which humic and apocrenic acids produce. The 
deposition, too, is largely mixed with oxide of iron. 
These, with other considerations, induce me to state that 
the protoxide of iron is united with crenic acid. In the 
further apportioning of the bases, by which we theoretically 
make up the salts supposed to exist formed in this water, 
the magnesia and alumina are combined with hydrous 



196 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

silicic acid, to form a compound soluble in carbonic acid 
and water. The remaining bases, then, constitute salts, 
which, through the influence of chemical affinities, are — 

Sulphate of potash, - - 1.871 grains. 

Sulphate of ammonia, - 0.3 69 " 

Sulphate of lime, - - 14.531 " 

Carbonate of lime, - - 5.220 " 

Crenate of iron, - - 2.498 " 

Silicate of magnesia and alumina, 1.724 " 

Carbonic acid, - 6.919 " 



32.632 grains. 

u In the preliminary examination of this water, it was 
deemed remarkable that so small a weight of iron salt 
should impart so sensibly a chalybeate taste to so large 
a volume of water. Neither the carbonate nor sulphate 
of iron has this effect, and the only explanation is that 
alluded to above : the existence of a crenate dissolved in 
carbonic acid so as to form an acidulous water. This 
compound with the lime salts may be considered as the 
active medicinal parts of the water." 

The virtues of this water are probably owing to its 
temperature, rather than to any medicinal agents com- 
bined with it. The supply of water is very abundant- 
estimated at 6000 gallons a minute. For the gentle- 
men's bath, it is received into a room thirty-eight feet in 
diameter, and may be raised to the depth of six feet. 
After it has been used, the water is drawn off and the 
bath fills again in fifteen or twenty minutes. The ladies' 



WARM SPRINGS. 197 

bath is comfortably furnished, and when required the 
water may be raised to the depth of five feet. Adjoin- 
ing the gentlemen's bath, a room has been constructed 
for a cold plunge bath, which is plentifully supplied with 
common spring water, piped from the neighboring hills, 
of a temperature of from 60° to 65°. 

The common practice in the use of the "Warm Spring 
bath is, to bathe twice or even three times a day, and 
remain in the water from twelve to twenty minutes each 
time. In some cases, especially when the bath is used 
for cutaneous diseases, the patient may profitably remain 
in for a much longer period, even from half an hour to 
one hour. As a general rule, and especially for delicate 
persons, active exercise should be avoided while in the 
bath, and always, on coming out, the bather should be 
well rubbed over the whole body with a coarse cloth. 

The best times for bathing are, in the morning before 
breakfast, and on an empty stomach an hour before dinner. 
Where perspiration is required, the bath should be taken 
in the evening, the patient retiring to bed immediately 
after. 

The diseases for which these baths have been profitably 
employed are numerous ; among them are atonic gout, 
chronic rheumatism, indolent swellings of the joints or 
lymphatic glands, paralysis, obstructions of the liver and 
spleen, old syphilitic and syphiloid diseases, chronic cu- 
taneous diseases, nephritic and calculous disorders, amen- 
orrhoea and dysmenorrhoea. Occasionally chronic diar- 
rhoea is relieved. The same may be said of neuralgia ; 
but, most generally, we find baths of somewhat lower 



198 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

temperature more beneficial in this disease. In connec- 
tion with the internal use of the alum waters, these baths 
will be found very serviceable in the various and distress- 
ing forms of scrofula, In painful affections of the 
limbs, following a mercurial course, these baths are effi- 
cacious, and the more so if employed in connection with 
the internal use of the sulphur waters. 

Some precautions should be observed in entering upon 
the use of these baths, even by those to whose diseases 
they may be well adapted. The bowels should be open, 
or in a solvent condition ; the state of the tongue should 
indicate a good condition of the stomach; the patient 
should be free from febrile excitement, and from the 
weariness and exhaustion generally the result of travel- 
ing in the public conveyances in hot weather. Many 
commit a great error, and occasionally make themselves 
quite ill by imprudently plunging into the bath imme- 
diately after arriving at the Springs, and before they have 
in any degree become relieved from the fatigue and ex- 
citation of the travel necessary to reach them. From 
such an imprudent course, the bather has little rational 
grounds to hope for benefit, and is fortunate if he escape 
without injury. 



CHAPTER XIII 



HEALING SPRINGS.* 



This medicinal fountain is in Bath county, Va., and is 
one of the thermal springs that give name to that county, 
and for which the chain of valleys that lie at the western 
base of the Warm Spring Mountain is so remarkable. 
The most southern of the group is the " Falling Spring 
Valley/' and embosoms the water under notice. This is 
a narrow, but fertile and well cultivated valley, of eight 
or ten miles in length, and is bounded on the East by the 
Warm Spring Mountain, and on the West by one of its 
parallel spurs, known as the " Valley Mountain. " On 
the South it is entered by the magnificent waterfall from 
which it derives its name, and on the North near the 
Healing Springs. Its general elevation above the bed 
of the Jackson river is from 300 to 400 feet, and about 
1800 feet above the level of the sea. 

The waters of the Healing Springs and those of Cedar 
Creek, a spring of great boldness and beauty, in its 
neighborhood, escape from the valley through deep paral- 
lel clefts in the Valley Mountain, and, uniting at its 

* "A Notice of the Healing Springs of Bath County, Virginia, 
by Wm. N. Patton, M. D." 

199 



200 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

western base, are discharged, at the distance of six or 
eight miles, into Jackson River, mear the point %here 
that stream is crossed by the great thoroughfare from 
Richmond to the White Sulphur Springs. 

Finding outlets through deep chasms in the mountain, 
these streams leave a narrow transverse section of it 
wholly unique and wildly grand, while the corresponding 
facings from which it has been torn are almost mural, 
and afford a fit haunt for " the eagle and the stork." 

In its descent to a valley bearing its name, the Cedar 
Creek passes through a wild mountain gorge, and forms 
a series of beautiful cascades and rapids, as its crystal 
waters are impetuously hurried on to meet the silvery 
stream from the Healing Springs, that comes leaping and 
dancing through its own rugged channel. Uniting at 
this point, these waters flow through a beautiful valley, 
still clad in its native forests, and afford for several miles 
the finest trout fishing in the mountains. 

Situated in the midst of a confined but fruitful 
valley, and surrounded by wild and romantic scenery, 
the Healing Springs afford a sequestered retreat for the 
invalid, and a pleasing resort for those who seek respite 
from the cares of business, or desire the refreshing in- 
fluences of mountain scenery and climate. It is easy of 
access by several good country roads, and is approachable 
within three miles, at several points, by the main western 
thoroughfare. The approach from Lowry's is up the 
Cedar Creek valley, and over a delightfully shaded road 
of three miles length. 



HEALING SPRINGS. 201 

There is now in progress of construction a well graded 
turnpike road, that p^jses through the whole length of 
the Falling Spring Valley, and immediately by the Heal- 
ing Springs ; and it is proposed so to change the present 
location of the great thoroughfare westward, that it will 
also lead directly to this place. 

"The improvements at the Healing Springs are 
planned after the best modern style, and will accommo- 
date, when completed, two hundred boarders. Two 
commodious and elegant bathing houses enter into the 
plan of improvements, and from the air of neatness and 
comfort apparent in the whole establishment, the amplest 
proof is given of the full purpose of the gentlemanly 
and enterprising proprietors to make this watering place 
a home for the invalid, and an elegant and sumptuous 
residence for the temporary visitor. 

This water, and something of its curative powers were 
known at an early day ; but owing to the want of means, 
and the existence of a bitter feud between the parties to 
whom it belonged, no improvement whatever was made ; 
yet such has been its reputation that every year a greater 
or less number of visitors, composed chiefly of extreme 
cases that had failed to be relieved elsewhere, or were too 
ill or too poor to go abroad, have resorted to it. Of late 
years, since it has become more the practice, in obstinate 
and long standing complaints, to seek relief by the use of 
mineral waters, this Spring has been steadily advancing 
in reputation, and, without improvements or other ad- 
vantages, has now forced itself into public notice, and 
created the demand for elegant and expensive buildings. 



202 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

It is not five years since this property was sold for only 
a few hundred dollars, and now#t could not be bought 
for fifty thousand. 

Whilst a great number of cures, as remarkable as they 
are gratifying, are known to have been effected by this 
water, yet no record of the character of the cases, nor 
history of their course and termination, has been made ; 
nor do we know of any attempt to define the character of 
the water, to determine its mode of action, nor to desig- 
nate the diseases which it is known to control. 

To determine these points, a variety and number of 
factfi have been gleaned from reliable sources, and furnish 
the data upon which the following conclusions are based. 

The absence of any systematic account whatever of 
these Springs and the diseases to which they are appli- 
cable, is our only apology for the present notice \ nor can 
we doubt its acceptability to the public, since this water 
is known to be a positive agent, adapted to a wide range 
of morbid conditions, and exercising almost specific con- 
trol over many affections of formidable character. 

The statements in reference to the remedial powers of 
this agent do not rest upon theoretical or speculative 
grounds, but upon actual cases and actual cures. Nor are 
the facts from which they are drawn exclusively of recent 
or remote date ; they have occurred in every period of 
its history, and in such numbers as to preclude the idea 
that the results are due to accident or coincidence, but 
establish the relation of cause and effect. 

Indeed, quite as much certainty attaches to the use of 
these waters as to any agent whatever \ and we are proud 



HEALING SPRINGS. 203 

to enrol it upon the list of known curative means, and 
welcome it to a chief place amongst the medicinal foun- 
tains for which our region is already so distinguished. 

The Healing Springs comprise three separate Springs. 
Two of these are quite near each other, and the third at 
a distance of perhaps two hundred yards, in the same 
ravine. These Springs are beautifully bright and crys- 
talline ; and the ever bursting bubbles of gas that escape 
with the water and float in myriads of vesicles upon its 
surface, impart to it a peculiar sparkling appearance. 

The temperature of these Springs is uniformly 84° 
Fah., nor are they subject to any variation of quantity or 
quality. , Singly, these Springs afford a considerable vo- 
lume of water, and, together, they would form quite a 
bold fountain. Each, it is thought by some, possesses 
properties and virtues peculiar to itself, and hence they 
have received distinctive titles ; but, as the same sensible 
properties are common to them, perhaps no essential dif- 
ference will »be found in their qualities. The waters 
have not been analysed. Lime and sandstone are the 
prevailing formations, and black slate, containing bi- 
sulphuret of iron, and other traces of minerals, are met 
with about the Springs. From the superficial formations, 
however, it would hardly be legitimate to infer the cha- 
racter of this water, as it most probably has a very re- 
mote source, and derives chiefly its mineral elements from 
strata in the depths of the earth. The deposit along the 
stream is much more worthy of trust, and would seem to 
indicate the presence of lime, alumina, iron, and other 
salts ; but, in the absence of any analysis, we forbear to 



204 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

determine, with even an approximation to certainty, the 
chemical character of the water; nor do we know that it 
is greatly to be regretted that we are left in ignorance of 
its exact constitution, since we must ultimately rely upon 
experimental results to guide us in the discriminate use 
of a mineral water, rather than the known absence or 
presence of any given constituent. A species of algae 
springs up most luxuriantly in these waters. It is of a 
dark green color, and exceedingly delicate and beautiful 
in its structure. Its chemical nature has not been defined, 
though its therapeutical effects have been abundantly 
tested. Whether it acts by virtue of some inherent pro- 
perty of its own, or in consequence of principles imbibed 
from the water, or simply upon the principle of a poul- 
tice, or by combining all these, we will not attempt to 
decide. Charged with saline and gaseous matter, the 
baths at these Springs are exceedingly buoyant and grate- 
ful, and perhaps unsurpassed for the delightful and re- 
freshing sensation it communicates to the system. For 
drinking purposes, the water is too warm to be altogether 
palatable at first, but its cordial effects upon the stomach 
soon make it an agreeable and even delightful beverage. 
This water, when drank, acts in three principal ways 
upon the system, to wit : upon the kidneys, the bowels, 
and skin ; and perhaps the relative affinity for each par- 
ticular organ is correctly indicated by the order of their 
enumeration. The direction to either viscus, is influ- 
enced somewhat by the condition of the system and to 
the manner of using the water. Whilst it is capable of 
being directed to either organ specifically, it may be so 



HEALING SPRINGS. 205 

employed as to exert a quiet and less marked, but not 
less salutary, effect over the whole at once. Its simul- 
neous action upon three great emunctories of the body, 
with its capacity to be directed specifically to either, con- 
stitutes this water a safe and gentle, but at the same time 
a certain and efficient depurating agent of the human 
body. 

Acting upon the whole of the external surface, with 
its countless pores and innumerable sebaceous glands — 
stimulating to new action the entire track of the alimen- 
tary canal, with its numerous and important organs — and 
urging the kidneys to throw off the multiform materials 
designed to be separated from the circulating fluids, and 
producing, when retained or imperfectly eliminated, such 
dangerous disturbance to the constitution, it is not won- 
derful that this water should exercise immense control 
over diseased action, and prove a remedy for a wide- 
spread range of human maladies. 

The water is remarkably light, and does not oppress 
the stomach, however freely it is drank. It is a great 
promoter of digestion; and it is a common remark of 
those under its use, that they can eat with impunity what 
would otherwise be intolerable. 

This fact, however, does not confer a license upon the 
patient to drink ad libitum, nor to eat indiscriminately. 

The effects upon the system are greatly increased, and 
the most desirable results obtained, by combining the 
internal and external use of the water. 

Bathing, both general and topical, is a most valuable 
and important mode of employing the water, and should 



206 MINERAL WATERS OP VIRGINIA. 

by no means be neglected when demanded by the circum- 
stances of a given case. 

The water of the Healing Springs, so far as it is ca- 
pable of classification, may be regarded, in its general 
action upon the system, as decidedly alterative and tonic, 
both directly and indirectly; but inasmuch as it is an 
agent sui generis in its character, we doubt the correct- 
ness of limiting its action by restrictive definitions. 

The first employment of these medicinal springs, and 
their earliest manifestation of curative powers, was in ill- 
conditioned idcers and intractable affections of the skin; 
and hence the significant name they bear. In these dis- 
eases, as classes, often as annoying and unsightly as they 
are painful and intractable, perhaps this agent stands 
without a rival in nature or in art. From whatever 
cause it may arise, it is proverbial that physicians and 
surgeons deprecate the charge of such cases, and turn 
them too often to seek ill-judged means of relief at the 
merciless hands of empiricism, or leave them the victims 
to disease that renders the subject alike an object of dis- 
gust and a prey to suffering. 

For such as labor under inveterate ulcers, this water 
is indeed a boon, and promises, by a painless process, to 
achieve what the surgeon's knife had been powerless to 
effect, or the more dreaded cautery had failed to accom- 
plish. In cutaneous diseases, so frequently persisting for 
years, and even for life remaining unsubdued, this water 
is not less remarkable for its benign effects. In many of 
the graver forms of skin diseases; ag well as in those of 



HEALING SPRINGS. 207 

milder character, the best results may be confidently ex- 
pected. 

It is worthy of remark, that the grave consequences 
that sometimes result from healing long standing ulcers 
and diseases of the skin by the ordinary methods, are not 
to be apprehended in the cases of cure by this water. 

Scrofula is known to be amenable to this agent. Of 
very recent date several remarkable cures of this terrible 
malady have occurred under its use, and we believe it is 
destined to become a standard remedy, to which we may 
look with the highest certainty for its relief. 

In chronic ophthalmic affections, whether dependant 
upon a scorbutic habit or other dyscrasy of the body, and 
in all degenerate and morbid conditions of the eye, re- 
sulting from neglected or improper treatment, the most 
gratifying results may be anticipated from the judicious 
use of these Springs. Again and again have those who 
came blind returned seeing. 

Here, as in all the varieties of ulcers and local inflam- 
mations treated by this water, a new and powerful agent 
is employed : it is the topical application of the moss 
that grows luxuriantly in the baths and streams that flow 
from them. This has a peculiar effect. When applied 
to a diseased surface it becomes painful, sometimes ex- 
ceedingly so, and yet, upon inspection of the part, its 
redness has been dispelled, and a new and more healthy 
action established. When the application has been long 
continued the surface becomes blanched and corrugated. 



208 MINERAL WATERS OP VIRGINIA. 

The second great class of diseases in which the efficacy 
of these Springs was proved, is rheumatism. 

In affections of this character they have acquired a 
deservedly high reputation, and are second in rank, per- 
haps, to no waters of this region. There are cases, it is 
true, with such rigidity of parts and loss of vitality, or 
with the diathesis or habit of body so fixed, as to doom 
the victim to remediless torture; but in all cases in 
which agencies may be expected to accomplish any good, 
either by relieving suffering or correcting the morbid con- 
dition upon which it depends, we know of no means 
more useful, or that may be employed with greater confi- 
dence of success. In numerous instances, we could cite 
those who came to these " pools" with flexed and rigid 
limbs, and a prey to ever gnawing pains, have speedily 
found their suffering dispelled as an illusion, and the 
long contracted muscles restored to their wonted func- 
tions. In many cases, this water, has acted as a charm 
indeed, and we are aware of none that have not been sen- 
sibly, ameliorated, if not ultimately cured. Its applica- 
tion has mainly been made to the more strictly chronic 
forms of the complaint, but it also has its triumphs in 
the sub-acute varieties. In the latter grade of this in- 
tractable and painful malady, we believe the baths not 
only perfectly safe, but entirely applicable. The tempe- 
rature of the water is not so high as to stimulate this 
form into the acute, nor so low as to endanger the patient 
by sudden metastasis; while both effects are guarded 
against by its powerful diuretic action, and its tendency 
to the bowels and skin. In the present instance, as in 



HEALING SPRINGS. 209 

other cases, where it is desirable to give the water a de- 
cided direction to the bowels or skin, appropriate adju- 
vants should be employed. 

In Neuralgia , a congener of the disease just consid- 
ered, this water is frequently found a specific, and from 
its alleviation of the thrilling, piercing pain attendant 
upon this affection, one of the Springs received, long 
since, the homely but expressive title of " Tooth-ache 
Spring." It is to those cases, dependent upon general 
derangement of the system — resulting from a residence 
in unhealthy districts of country, or those that have their 
origin in nervous irritability, or spring from a gouty or 
rheumatic diathesis — that the water is so happily adapted. 
In tooth-ache, which is frequently a form of neural- 
gia, there :are numerous individuals, now living in the 
neighborhood of this fountain, who would testify to its 
efficacy as a speedy and certain remedy. 

The evidence of the powers of these waters in rheu- 
matic affections, is by no means slender ; but is based 
upon years of observation and upon multiplied cases. 

To many nervous affections these Springs are exactly 
suited, and in some paralytic cases act most favorably. 
Perhaps in chorea, and some forms of epilepsy, they 
would be found valuable; but we have not learned 
whether any example of either has been furnished. 
From the history of two remarkable cases, relieved by 
the use of these waters, after resisting other means, we 
suppose them to have been rickets. They occurred years 



210 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

ago, and it is now difficult to determine their exact 
nature. 

Dyspepsia, that inveterate scourge of the sedentary 
and thoughtful, which has so long mocked all the rational 
as well as foolish means that have been invoked by turns 
for its relief, here finds an almost infallible antidote. 
The dejected and apprehensive spirit that finds no joy in 
the present, and looks only for evil in the future — the 
hesitating will that can mature no purpose, and desponds 
even in success — the emaciation of frame and haggard- 
ness of visage — the e.ver present endurance, and all the 
real and fantastic ills that torture the hapless sufferer, 
are made to yield to the renewing and invigorating influ- 
ences that a few weeks' use of these waters uniformly 
send in healthful and rejoicing currents through his lan- 
guid system. 

It is true, that alone, and in every condition of body, 
the effect may not be so marked; but, in most instances, 
the water is sufficient. Where great torpor of the ab- 
dominal viscera exists, additional means may be used 
with profit, and, indeed, may be found indispensable ; 
but all that could reasonably be expected of any single 
remedy, in a disease so Protean in its character, and so 
intractable in its nature, will be more than realized under 
the alterant and corroborant effects of the baths and 
spring. 

For chronic thrush or apthee, the Healing Springs have 
been employed with entire success, after a fruitless, but 
persevering use of the best directed means. 



HEALING SPRINGS. 211 

We are not aware that these waters have been tried in 
chronic affections of the lining coat of the bowels ; but 
from its soothing effects upon other mucous surfaces, and 
its power to modify secretion, we should anticipate most 
favorable results. 

Leucorrhoea, and other kindred disorders of the female, 
when independent of malignant action or actual displace- 
ment of organs, will generally yield to the free internal 
and external use of this water. It is also of great value 
in chlorotic conditions, and when irregularities of the 
female habit exist. From the general invigorating effects 
of the water, the appreciable quantity of iron it contains, 
and its affinity for the pelvic organs, it is by no means 
surprising that it should be found so valuable an agent in 
this class of human infirmities. 

Many diseases of the urinary organs are greatly con- 
trolled by these waters ; among which are enumerated cal- 
culous disorders, chronic inflammation of the bladder, en- 
largement of the prostate gland, and irritation of the 
urethra. Gleet and stricture have yielded to this agent, 
after resisting other agents, however judiciously applied. 
From the decided affinity of the water for this class of 
organs, we should anticipate just such results as expe- 
rience has determined to follow their use. 

From the powerful action of the water as a diuretic, 
some discretion should be observed in its application to 
this class of affections, and its internal use suspended, if 
unpleasant symptoms should arise. 



212 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

Chronic Bronchitis is an affection that is frequently 
cured by this remedy. Whilst it soothes the cough and 
improves the character of expectorated matter, it imparts 
a corroborant influence to the general system, and estab- 
lishes a sure basis for recovery. For enfeebled states of 
the system, without serious lesion or structural change of 
any important organ, and springing from exhaustion of 
vital energy, and attended by an insupportable sense 
of weariness and lassitude, a panacea is found in the de- 
lightful and refreshing baths of the Healing Springs. 
The elasticity of frame and buoyancy of spirit expe- 
rienced by the exhausted and sighing invalid is no less 
gratifying to him than it is wonderful to his friends. 
Just suited by its equable and agreeable temperature to 
the enervated and enfeebled, this water is adapted above 
all others to the real valetudinarian. Neither inordi- 
nately stimulating him by excels of heat, nor unduly 
depressing his feeble energies of life by too great a de- 
gree of cold, the invalid can enjoy all the advantages 
of a delightful bath without sustaining a shock or incur- 
ring the risk of other injurious consequences. 

In shattered conditions of the system, so often follow- 
ing severe and protracted illness — exhausting discharges — 
inordinate attention to business— long residence in un- 
healthy districts of country — excessive mental anxiety — 
and from whatever cause it may result, this water, con- 
joined with the advantages of scenery and climate, pro- 
mises, with much certainty, the recovery of the lost 
boon of health. 



HEALING SPRINGS. 



213 



When the great value of systematic bathing, in the 
cure of many chronic affections, and its almost indispen- 
sable importance in the removal of that nameless, but 
wide-spread tribe of infirmities embraced in the general 
term debility, is considered, a water of the character 
here presented cannot be too highly appreciated." 



CHAPTER XIV 



ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 



These Springs are situated in the northern part of 
the County of Rockbridge, on the main turnpike road 
leading from the town of Lexington to the Warm 
Springs, seventeen miles from the former and about 
twenty-one from the latter. They were originally the 
property of the Campbell family, by whom the land on 
which they are situated was located about fifty years ago. 

The existence of an alum spring at this place was 
known at the time of the entry of the land, and its pe- 
culiarities soon led the people of the neighborhood to 
test its virtues, first as an external and then as an inter- 
nal remedy, especially for diseases of the skin. The 
success of these experiments established a local reputa- 
tion for the water to such an extent that the proprietor 
of the Springs found it to his interest to open a house of 
entertainment for the accommodation of those who might 
desire to use them. 

Rut the isolated character of the place, the limited 
accommodations, and especially the fact that it was then 
out of the great "Spring circle," and withal inconvenient 



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ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 215 

to approach, prevented for several years any large visita- 
tion to the place. But the reputation of the water, re- 
sulting from actual experience in its use, continued to 
increase and extend, until the public demand for accom- 
modation forced an enterprise into the economy of the 
establishment that has resulted in the erection of appro- 
priate buildings sufficient for the accommodation of five 
or six hundred visiters, and in greatly improving and 
beautifying the grounds adjacent to the Springs. Still 
the increasing reputation of the waters, and a consequent 
increasing patronage, so urgently demand further accom- 
modations that the proprietors are now actively engaged 
in the erection of new buildings, to be finished by the 
next season, and which will greatly increase their capacity 
to accommodate. 

The property is now owned by Messrs. Frazier & Ran- 
dolph, whose industry and enterprise give ample guar- 
antee that the extent of their accommodations will here- 
after be commensurate with the public demands. 

Small reservoirs cut in the rock receive the alum wa- 
ter as it percolates through a heavy cliff of slate-stone. 
There are five of these reservoirs or springs, all differing 
slightly from each other, and also differing from them- 
selves at different times, being stronger and the water 
also more abundant in rainy weather. 

At the base of the same hill from which the alum 
water issues, and a few hundred yards above, is a good 
Chalyheate Spring, which in many cases may be used 
either alone or in connection with the alum water, to 
great advantage. 



216 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

These waters were analyzed by Dr. Aug. A. Hayes, 
of Boston, in 1852, with the following results :* 

" Description and Analysis of three Samples of Rock- 
bridge Alum Water from Virginia. 

The samples presented perfectly clear, colorless, and 
odorless water; the taste was very stringent, with the 
more lasting impression produced by iron salts. In 
closed vessels the water may be heated without becoming 
turbid, but boiling causes ochry matter to fall. In the 
composition of Rockbridge waters much more of the salts 
of alumina is found than in the Bath Alum water. 

Rochbridge, No. 1. 



A standard gallon at 60° F. contains — 




Of bases : Sodium and soda, * - 


0.250 


Potash, traces. 




Ammonia, - 


0.471 


Lime, - 


0.594 


Magnesia, - 


0.368 


Alumina, - 


4.420 


Protoxide of iron, 


1.748 


Of acids : Sulphuric acid, 


32.626 


Carbonic # " 


2.623 


Organic " - •- 


0.930 


Silicic " - -. - 


2.460 


Chlorine " 


0.257 grs 



^Mineral Springs of Virginia* 



ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 217 

The changes which take place -in these waters by boil- 
ing, the action of sulphydric acid and salts of silver, in- 
dicate that these proxirAate constituents are combined to 
form the following salts : 

Sulphate of lime, - .- - 1.439 

Sulphate of magnesia, - - 1.081 

Protoxide of iron, - - 3.G83 

Alumina, - 14.764 

Chloride of sodium, - - 0.423 

Silicate of soda, - - - 2.544 

Crenate of ammonia, - - 1.401 

Free sulphuric acid, - - 18.789 

" carbonic acid, - - 2.623 

46.747 grs. 
Pure water, - - 58325.253 



58372.000 
Sample of Rockbridge Alum, No. 2. 



One gallon of this sample measured at 6 


0° F. contains 


the following substances : 




As bases : Potash, - 


0.954 


Sodium, - 


0.401 


Ammonia, - f - 


0.300 


Lime, - 


1.346 


Magnesia, - 


0.600 


Protoxide of iron, 


2.304 


Alumina, - 


5.360 


L 





218 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

As acids : Sulphuric acid, - - - 34.219 

Carbonic " - - - 7.356 

Crenic " -* - - 0.400 

Silicic «,---:.- 2.840 

Chlorine " 0.607 

The acids unite to the base's, forming salts of the fol- 
lowing weights : • 

Sulphate of potash, - - - 1.765 

" lime, - - - - 3.263 

" magnesia, - 1.763 

Protoxide of iron, - - - 4.863 

Alumina, 17.905 

Crenate of ammonia, - 0.700 

Chloride of sodium, - - - 1.008 

Silicic acid, - . . 2.840 . 

Free sulphuric acid, - - 15.224 

Carbonic " - 7.356 



56.687 
Pure water, - - - 58315.313 



t 58372.000 

Sample of Rockbridge Alum, No. 4. 

One gallon of this sample afforded— 
As bases : Potash, traces. I 

Sodium, - - - - 0.173 

Ammonia, - > - 0.360 

Lime, - - - - 1.346 

Magnesia, - >-- - 1.503 



ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 219 



Protoxide of iron, 


- 


2.228 


Alumina, -;/•-. ? 


- 


7.210 


Organic matter, 


- 


1.020 


Of acids : Sulphuric acid, 


- 


29.686 


Carbonic " - 


- 


4.208 


Chlorine u 


- 


0.266 


Silicic iC 


- 


1.710 


Crenic " 


- 


860 


Those substances combined as salts 


give 


the folio' 


constituents : 






Chloride of sodium, 


- 


0.439 


Sulphate of lime, 


- 


3.261 


Sulphate of magnesia, 


- 


4.418 


Protoxide of iron, 


- 


4.693 


Alumina, - 


- 


24.085 


Crenate of ammonia, 


- 


1.220 


Free sulphuric acid, 


- 


5.511 


" carbonic u 


-■ 


4.203 


Ci silicic u 


- 


1.710 


Organic matter, 


i 


• 1.020 



50.560 
58321.440 

58372.000 

In comparing these samples with those of the Bath 
Alum Springs, it will be seen that they are more highly 
acid in composition, and contain besides more of the tri- 
sulphate of alumina in a given volume. This salt gives 



220 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

character and activity to these waters, and renders them 
subjects of great interest when used as remedial agents. 

Of the waters hitherto described, those from the Oak 
Orchard Acid Mineral Springs, of Alabama, G-enessee 
county, New York, approach most nearly to this com- 
position. 

The results of an analysis by Dr. James K. Chilton, 
of Spring No. 1, is given for comparison : 



Spring 


No. 1. 




One gallon contains, of 






Free sulphuric acid, 


- 


82.96 


Sulphate of lime, 


- 


39.60 


Protoxide of iron, 


- 


14.32 


Alumina, 


- 


9.68 


Magnesia, 


- 


8.28 


Silica, 


- 


1.04 


Organic matter, 




3.28 




159.16 grs. 



Containing nearly three times the weight of solid mat- 
ter in the gallon, this water does not afford more than 
half the amount of tri-sulphate of alumina which is 
found in the average of the Rockbridge Alum Springs. 

The supposed presence of arsenious acid, and the ex- 
pectation that more active bodies than those named would 
be found, led to a careful examination of the black, de- 
composed shale from which the Bath Alum water takes 






ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 221 

its rise. The shale gave sulphates of iron, lime and 
alumina to pure water, and contained an abundance of 
iron pyrites. When two pounds of the clay were decom- 
posed, the resulting fluid contained no arsenious acid or 
copper. The earthy part afforded a trace merely of the 
phosphate of lime. The same negative results followed 
an analysis of the dry mass from four gallons of the 
mixed waters. 

The general conclusions following from the results of 
these analyses are, that the Bath Alum Springs, contain- 
ing more ferruginous salts, and having the sulphuric acid 
more equally neutralized, approach more nearly in com- 
position to chalybeate waters. While the proportions of 
the salts to the pure water may vary, the relation in hind 
will be preserved. 

The Rockbridge Alum waters, on the other hand, have 
their iron salts almost masked in their action by the pre- 
dominance of free sulphuric acid and tri-sulphate of 
alumina. In these, too, we may expect the same general 
relation of hind to prevail, although more or less of the 
salts is present in the water. Both contain a portion of 
iron oxide, united to organic compounds, which, inde- 
pendently of the other salts and acids, would constitute 
them chalybeate waters. In their origin they are quite 
pure surface waters, which percolating strata undergoing 
decomposition, take from their soluble mineral and 
organic matters. Respectfully, 

AUG. A. HAYES, M. D., 
Assay er to the State of Mass. 

1, Pine St., Boston, 9th March, 1852." 



222 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

Such is the analysis of this interesting mineral water, 
by the same distinguished chemist that analyzed the wa- 
ters of the Bath Alum Springs. 

The analyses of these two waters, so essentially resem- 
bling each other, are laid before the public in this vol- 
ume, and by comparing them, an opportunity is afforded 
the medical man of hypothetically determining the char- 
acter of each, and to see at one view in what they agree, 
and in what they differ from each other ; and hence, so 
far as analysis can settle the question, to determine their 
relative powers and medical applicability. Candor will 
have to admit, however, that it is not analysis alone, nor 
principally, that can satisfactorily determine the thera- 
peutical character or medical adaptations of mineral 
waters. 

Dr. Huntt, in his pamphlet on the Bed Sulphur, in 
alluding to Professor Rodgers' analysis of that Spring, 
observes that "it certainly does not satisfactorily account 
for the wonderful effects of the water." The same re- 
mark may be made in reference to the analysis of all our 
mineral waters, in connection with the well known and 
peculiar operations of those waters, with the exception, 
perhaps, of the simple chalybeates; and this, it is fair 
to presume, will continue to be true of any analysis that 
can be made in the present state of chemical science. 
"It is well known to every one at all acquainted with 
chemical science, that compounds of a very dissimilar 
character are produced by the combination of the same 
elements in different proportions, producing substances, 
in some instances, of far greater activity than either of 



BOCKBRIDGE ALUM SPKINGS. 223 

the articles of which they are composed. There is, per- 
haps, no better illustration of this than that offered by 
the union of oxygen and nitrogen, producing, when com- 
bined in one proportion, atmospheric air, nitrous oxide 
in another, and nitric acid in a third. Nor are we sure 
that the chemist is able to detect all the ingredients which 
mineral waters contain. The very tests which reveal 
some of them to us, may have the power of destroying 
others, and these, too, may be those in which the medici- 
nal properties reside. The remedial properties, then, of 
mineral waters cannot he determined with any certainty hy 
analysis, however nicely conducted, but must be ascer- 
tained by experience."* One dozen well "watched" 
cases, under the use of a mineral water, will do more to 
determine the medical powers and applicability of such 
water than any analysis that can be made by the ablest 
chemist. 

An analysis of a mineral water satisfies curiosity as to 
the materials the water is supposed to contain, while it 
enables the medical man to form some general conclu- 
sions as to the most prominent characteristics of the 
water as a remedial agent. Thus far, they are valuable, 
but singly and alone, without the aid of observation and 
experience, they never can be safely relied upon to guide 
in the administration of a remedial water in individual 
cases. 

This position finds a pertinent illustration in the Rock- 
bridge Alum water. Who would not say, looking at the 

* Professor Haywood. 



224 MINERAL WATERS OE VIRGINIA. 

analysis of this water alone, that its operation would be 
that of an astringent upon the system ? while the fact is, 
that it purges seven out of ten that use it. Again, who 
would have judged, from a mere analysis of the water, 
that it was calculated to remove a great reproach from 
the healing art, by constituting a reliable remedy for 
scrofula, a disease hitherto so entirely unmanageable ? 
Yet, experience has established this _ fact beyond con- 
troversy. 

Alum waters are of very recent introduction as re- 
medial agents, and close practical observation is yet a de- 
sideratum as to their peculiar therapeutical agency and 
most appropriate medical applicability. These waters 
certainly possess unequivocal medicinal powers, and al- 
though their reputation is now high, they are destined to 
advance still further in public confidence. Experience 
has fully shown that they are very efficaciously used in 
many diseases of the skin and glandular system 3 and 
that in scrofulous affections they offer new hopes to the 
afflicted. 

Dr. Christian, the intelligent and well-informed re- 
sident physician at the place, makes the following sum- 
mary of the applicability of these waters to diseases, 
which, from the high source whence it emanates, is enti- 
tled to confidence : 

"They are an invaluable remedy in the cure of all 
scrofulous and cutaneous diseases, lupus and other malig- 
nant ulcerations of the mouth and throat, chronic dis- 
eases of the digestive organs, dyspepsia, diseases of the 






ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 225 

liver, chronic diarrhoea, scrofulous affections of the me- 
sentery and peritoneum, diseases of the urinary organs, 
diabetes, chronic inflammation and irritation of the kid- 
neys, bladder and urethra, diseases peculiar to females, 
amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, leucorrhoea, menorrhagia, 
chronic inflammation and ulceration of the uterus, hem- 
orrhoids, all hemorrhagic affections of a passive character, 
and all anemic conditions of the system and broken down 
states of the constitution, whether resulting from the im- 
prudent use of medicine or the errors of youth. In all 
diseases of the glandular system, whether of inflamma- 
tion, induration, or deficient secretion, it has no superior, 
if an equal, as a curative agent : restoring the secretions 
generally to a healthy condition, particularly those of the 
liver, skin and kidneys, whether deficient, excessive, or 
of bad quality. Its purgative action is characterized by 
copious bilious discharges, very similar to those produced 
by mercurials. 

As a remedy in all depraved conditions of the consti- 
tution, involving as such diseases necessarily do, an un- 
healthy condition of the blood, we know of no agent that 
has performed such astonishing cures ; thus it is that it 
has cured scrofula in all its stages and worst forms, with 
its kindred affections. 

Acting as a purgative or astringent, according to the 
quantity taken, it cures with equal facility diseases of the 
alimentary canal, whether attended with constipation 
or diarrhoea. 

Unlike most other mineral waters, it retains its cura- 
tive properties at all seasons of the year, and when sent 



226 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

away in barrels or bottles, possesses most or ail of its 
medicinal virtues." 

Desirous to avail myself of every source of informa- 
tion in reference to the peculiar characteristics of these 
waters, I requested my friend Dr. McPheeters, of 
Natchez, who spent a portion of the season of 1844 here, 
than whom there was no physician more capable or relia- 
ble, to furnish me with the results of his observation and 
experience with the waters. The following is his com- 
munication to me on the subject : 

"Alum Springs, Va., Sept. 26th, 1844. 

Dear Sir : — It is with considerable reluctance that I 
comply with your request, that I should give you a writ- 
ten account of my experience of the medical virtues of 
the waters of this place. First, because my opportunities 
of observation have been very limited. Secondly, on ac- 
count of a great natural disinclination I have to appear 
before the public. On the other hand, so very little has 
been published of the very important therapeutical quali- 
ties of the Virginia Springs, that it is perhaps the duty 
of every observer to contribute his mite, however small. 

In order that you, and the public may know what de- 
gree of importance to attach to my remarks, I will observe 
that I have been here but two seasons. I spent about 
three weeks here in September, 1840, and about five 
weeks in August and September of this year. As I have 
had no opportunity of ascertaining their chemical com- 
position, I will confine my remarks to their therapeutical 



ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 227 

effects, as manifested under my own observation. In 
their general effects on the system, they are a febrifuge 
tonic. In their effects on the pulse and skin, they more 
closely resemble the action of the sulphate of quinine 
than any other article of the materia medica that I have 
met with • producing a full slow pulse and warm moist 
skin. By their astringent and tonic qualities, they di- 
minish internal congestions, and give a centrifugal tend- 
ency to the fluids, thereby filling the superficial veins and 
capillaries. They are more uniformly and powerfully 
diuretic than any waters I have met with. They act 
as moderately purgative on one-half, or perhaps two- 
thirds of the visiters. In what may be termed neuralgic 
dyspepsia, they change the action of the mucous mem- 
brane — relieve it of the sub-acute inflammation under 
which it labours, and powerfully promote the appetite and 
the powers of digestion — and at the same time relieve 
those intermittent pains, and distressing nervous sensa- 
tions, that so generally accompany that form of dyspepsia. 
They very promptly relieve uterine hemorrhage of the 
passive description. They speedily cure leucorrhcea even 
when it has been a complaint of years' standing. They 
relieve some cases of hemorrhoids very promptly. They 
cause the absorption of scrofulous tumors, and promote 
\h^ healing of indolent ulcers. The powders prepared by 
evaporating the water, given in doses of 3 or 4 grains three 
times a day, in half a drachm of the aromatic syrup of 
rhubarb, promptly relieves the summer complaint of chil- 
dren (produced by hot weather and teething) when "unat- 
tended by fever. In closes of from 5 to 15 grains, three 



228 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

times a day, they relieve weak digestion and strengthen 
the system in children and«adults. 

The common opinion (which I believe is correct) is, 
that the upper spring is most purgative and alterative — 
the middle one most astringent, and the lower one most 
tonic — and that the strength of all of them is materially 
increased by wet weather. 
With these hasty remarks, 

I remain, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. MTHEETERS, M. D. 
To J. J. Moorman, M. D." 

I have already strongly intimated my opinion of the 
great value of this water in scrofula. But the frequent 
occurrence, and intractable character of that disease un- 
der the ordinary treatment invests with so much interest 
any new remedy that may be looked to with hope, that I 
shall be pardoned for again referring to the subject. For 
more than fifteen years my attention has been directed to 
this water as a remedy in scrofulous disease, and as the 
result of this long observation I can bear an unequivocal 
testimony to its value in such cases. In the various forms 
of scrofula, and especially in the incipient stages of the 
affection, it may be looked to with great hope, and I 
verily believe will be found greatly superior to any of the 
remedies hitherto used by the profession. 

The following letter from Dr. Gr. ; A. Rose, formerly 
much distinguished in his profession in Virginia, and 
now not less so in Indiana, where he has resided for 



ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 229 

many years, presents the curative powers of the Alum 
waters in a very favorable point of view. To a mind na- 
turally energetic and discriminating, Dr. Rose adds high 
scientific cultivation and the experience of long and la- 
borious investigation into the nature of diseases and their 
remedies. The opinions of such a physician, based upon 
his own personal observations, are well, worthy of the 
confidence of the public. 

"La Porte, Ind., Dec. 18, 1853. 
" Dear Sir ;• — Your card as you passed this place last 
season, induced a hope you would visit us on your return, 
but in this we were sadly disappointed. The ill-health of 
my son Garland, whom you once saw sick in his cradle 
some thirty-three years since, induced me to take him to 
the Virginia Springs in the hope of curing him of Coloni- 
tiSj and of meeting with % you, as I expected you were 
still resident physician at the White Sulphur Springs. 
But I was again disappointed in seeing you. Finding 
neither the White Sulphur, nor the Hot, nor the Warm 
Springs to impart any permanent benefit, I repaired 
to Rockbridge Alum Spring. As before remarked we 
had used the upper springs without permanent benefit, 
and faithless as I was, with regard to the Rockbridge 
Alum waters, I determined to visit them. The night 
before we left the hot for the Rockbridge Bath Alum, 
my son was very ill, and although it was raining in 
the morning, we embarked for the Alum as the last re- 
sort. The trulh was, I had heard so much said in its 
praise, I classed it among the quack remedies j but in the 



230 MINERAL WATERS OE VIRGINIA. 

language of the Queen of Sheba, with regard to Solomon, 
I found, the half its merits had never been told. No wa- 
ter in the mountains is used more injudiciously by visi- 
ters, yet all who had a right to expect benefit, received it, 
despite their imprudence. The difference between that 
water and all others is this : an intelligent physician can 
before hand tell precisely what the water can do, and 
what it cannot do. A case in point occurred to me in a 
pair of fair damsels, daughters of an old acquaintance 
near Lynchburg. I saw them packing up for a move, 
and inquired what they were after. u Oh, we are not 
mending, and we think of going to the White Sulphur, if 
you think best." I replied you are not mending, because 
there is not iron enough in this water. Go to the Bath 
Alum. If you are not better in three days, proceed to 
the Hot Spring. If you improve there, stay as long as 
you do improve. If you do not improve, return to the 
Bath Alum. I heard no more of them for 10 or 12 days, 
when they cast up with red cheeks and lips, having gone 
no farther than the Bath Alum, where the increased 
quantity of iron was precisely adapted to their anemic 
condition. I now return to my son's case. In three 
days after he began the use of the water, he said there 
was a salutary change in his feelings,, and in three weeks 
he was well, is now well and fat. He brought home with 
him two demijohns, of the water which he used on the 
route, but since he got home, he has not indeed given 
his " physic to the dogs," but he Has had no need for 
its use. 



ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 231 

I hope in your treatise on the mineral waters of Vir- 
ginia you will attempt to do justice to this invaluable wa- 
ter. In conversation with intelligent men, at the various 
springs, I obtained statistics enough to fill a small volume, 
relative to its curative power, and most assuredly your 
information must be much more extensive and critical. 
I pray you to receive the homage 

Of my great esteem, 

. ,G. A. ROSE. 
Dr. J. J. Moorman. 



CHAPTER XV 



BATH ALUM SPRINGS 



The Bath Alum Springs are situated near the eastern 
base of the Warm Spring mountain, on the main stage 
road leading from Staunton to the Warm Springs, 45 
miles west from the former, and 5 miles east from the 
latter place. 

The valley in which they arise, is an extensive cove, 
irregularly encircled by mountains, with an unproductive 
sandy soil, and affords indications of salubrity and health- 
fulness. 

It is only within the last two years that these Springs 
began to attract public attention as a mineral water; and 
it does not exceed four years since the grounds near the 
Springs, now so elegantly and tastefully improved, were a 
wild and primitive forest. This great change, by which 
the " desert was made to blossom as the rose," was 
brought about by the energy of the late lamented John 
W. Frazier, Esq., whose family still own a large interest 
in the property. 

The improvements here are extensive, substantial, and 
convenient, affording comfortable and elegant accommo- 
dations for a large company. y 

232 






BATH ALUM SPRINGS. 233 

The Alum waters issue from a slate-stone cliff of twelve 
or fifteen feet high, and are received into small reservoirs 
that have been excavated near each other in the rock. 
These different springs, or reservoirs, differ essentially 
from each other. One of them is a very strong chalyb- 
eate, with but little alum ; another is a milder chalybeate, 
with more alumina ; while the others are alum of different 
degrees of strength, but all containing an appreciable 
quantity of iron. 

Dr. Hayes, of Boston, the same gentleman to whom 
we are indebted for the analysis of several of our Mineral 
Springs, has analyzed the waters of the Bath Alum, and 
renders the following report of his chemical investi- 
gations :* 

"Description and Analysis of the Bath Alum Spring 
Waters of Virginia. 

u The sample of these waters were received in excellent 
order and abundant in quantity. On carefully opening 
the vessels at 60° F., the external air entered, to restore 
in volume a portion which had been absorbed by the wa- 
ter from the small space below the sealed aperture. 
With the samples was some of the nearly black clay of 
the Bath Alum Spring location, which had apparently 
been derived from the breaking down of shale or slate 
and shales. On exposure to the air, these samples of 
water lost their brilliant, sparkling appearance, becoming 

* Mineral Springs of Virginia. 



234 MINERAt WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

cloudy and slowly depositing in flocks an ochry matter. 
They were perfectly colorless before exposure, and when 
tasted left an acid impression and strongly astringent 
taste. 

"When the temperature of these waters is raised, 
they become turbid at about 120° F., and before any 
considerable escape of air or gas takes place. Nearly the 
same effect is produced, if the water to be heated is ex- 
cluded from air, the partial decomposition being in no 
wise connected with the escape of carbonic acid. No 
sulphurous or hepatic odor is exhibited, nor can any fer- 
menting action or change be produced by exposure in 
warm places. 

Analysis. 

u A standard gallon (58.372 grs.) was the measure of 
each water used in the determination of the quantities of 
the substances found. The experiments necessary for 
ascertaining the presence or absence of other substances 
than those named, were made on much larger quantities, 
so as to render the chemical history more exact. 

" The first sample, Bath Alum No. 1,* at the tempera- 
ture of 60° F. one standard gallon of this water, contains 
of the bases : 

Soda, - - - - - 0.720 
Potash, .... traces. 

Ammonia, - - - * - 0.830 

* Referring to the lowest Spring. 



BATH ALUM SPRINGS. 235 









Lime, - 


- 


1.570 


Magnesia, 


- 


0.960 


Protoxide of iron, - 


- 


6.876 


Alumina, 


- 


3.080 


Of the acids : 






Sulphuric acid, - ' 


- 


- 24.750 


Carbonic, 


- 


4.140 


Silicic, - . 


- 


1.390 


Organic, 


- 


1.020 


Chlorine, 


*- 


0.107 grs 



u When their proximate constituents are arranged, so 
as to represent as nearly as it is possible, the compounds 
which experiments prove to exist in the water, the com- 
position of the whole may be expressed as — 



Pure water, - - 


58326.557 


Free sulph. acid, 
Carbonic acid, 


5.806 
4.140 


Sulphate of lime, - 
Sulphate of magnesia, 
Protoxide iron, 


3.805 

2.821 

14 ; 516 


Alumina, - 


10.288 


Chloride of sodium, 
Silicate of soda, 


0.176 
2.024 


Crenate of ammonia, 


1.850 


Oxygen added to sodium, 


.017 




45.443 







236 mineral waters of virginia. 

Sample No. 2, Bath Alum No. 8. 

In one gallon of this sample there were contained as 

bases : 

Potash, ----- 0.140 

Soda, - - - - - 0.350 

Ammonia, - - - - - 0.462 

Magnesia, 0.486 

Lime, - / - - - 1.049 

Protoxide of iron, - - - 10.314 

Alumina, 3.680 

As acids : 

Sulphuric acid, - - - - 80.359 

Carbonic, - - ' - - - 3.846 

Organic, - - - - - 1.310 

Silicic, ----- 2.800 
Chlorine, a trace. 

These substances united in the form of salts as existing 
in the water, give the matter foreign to pure Crater. 
The composition of the gallon in grains is — ■ 



Pure water, 


58317.206 


Free sulphuric acid, 
Carbonic acid, 


- .'.'- 7.878 
, 3.846 


Sulphate of potash, 

Magnesia, 

Lime, 


.258 

- v- 1-282 

- ' - 2.539 


Protoxide of iron, 


- - 21.776 



BATH ALUM SPRINGS. 237 



Aluinina, 

Crenate of ammonia, 

Silicate of soda, - 


12.293 
1.776 
3.150 


Pure water, 


54.798 
58317.202 


» 


58.372.000 



a 



This sample differs from the first in acting much 
more strongly on the organs of taste, and the quantity of 
free sulphuric acid is larger than in that water. Both 
these waters are highly acid in their action, although the 
acid is united to bases, which in part neutralize its power. 
When by boiling a deposit takes place, if the heat is 
- continued, the deposited matter re-dissolves as the water 
evaporates. 

" When much reduced in volume by evaporation, the 
excess of acid chars the organic acid present, and alters 
the composition of the salts. 

"In considering the composition of these waters, the 
protoxide of iron is assumed to.be united to the sulphuric 
acid. The change produced by heating is referred to the 
action of the crenate of ammonia, and is the same as 
ordinarily where crenates, free from apocrenates, are nat- 
urally contained in a water. When mixed with the solu- 
ble salts of silver and exposed to light, the gray color is 
entirely distinct from that produced by either apocrenates, 
humates or any decomposing matter. When the metallic 
silver and oxide of iron resulting from the first action are 



238 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

removed, the mixture by evaporation continues to afford 
brilliant scales of metallic silver, until reduced to a small 
volume. 

" The gaseous matter in these waters is a mixture of 
carbonic acid, nitrogen, and a small proportion of oxygen, 
and the measure is about 1 volume of the mixed gases to 
40 volumes of the water. The carbonic acid is given by 
weight, so that an uniform expression of acid relation is 
adopted, and no misconception can arise, if the reader 
bears in mind the fact that carbonic acid has more than 
twice the acid or neutralizing power possessed by the 
strongest fluid sulphuric acid." 

Dr. Strother, an intelligent and discriminating physi- 
cian, who resides in the neighborhood, and has enjoyed a 
better opportunity than any other medical man for under- 
standing the nature and value of the Bath Alum waters, 
thinks very favorably of them in scrofulous, eruptive and 
dyspeptic affections. He also bears testimony to their 
good effects, in old hepatic derangements, chronic diar- 
rhcea, chronic thrush, nervous debility, and in various 
uterine diseases, especially in the worst forms of menor- 
rhagia, and in fluor albus, both uterine and vaginal. 

In chlorotic females, and in a broken down condition 
of the nervous system, often in males, the result of youth- 
ful improprieties, as well as when the system is anemic, 
but free from obstinate visceral obstructions, this water 
promises to be very beneficial. 

The following communication from a highly respectable 
gentleman of Massachusetts, shows the prompt and happy 



BATH ALUM SPRINGS. 239 

effects of this water in an obstinate disease of the skin, 
of long standing : > 

Bath Alum, April 21st ; 1853. 

B. K. Spangler, Esq. : 

Intending soon to leave Bath Alum, I wish to leave in 
your hands a statement of the effects which I have expe- 
rienced from the use of the alum water at this place, 
hoping it may be of service to others who are similarly 
afflicted. I had in my system a disease which began to 
appear when I was about two years old, in eruptions on 
the skin, which gradually extended over a great part of 
the body. At the same time it affected my eyes, causing 
much inflammation and soreness. The eruptions were 
healed for a time by the application of mineral waters in 
Massachusetts, in which State my parents resided. In a 
few years afterward they re-appeared, and for the last 
twenty years my disease has continued at intervals of 
about one and four years to show itself on the surface. 
Several eminent physicians tried their skill, but only in 
one instance was there even the shadow of success. In 
that instance, the disease was healed •externally, still 
remaining in the system and gathering strength from 
year to year. It is about five years since this external 
cure was effected by a physician in Massachusetts, who 
denominated my complaint as the Salt Rheum. It in- 
variably attacks me in cold weather, and when hot 
weather returns heals up*. For the last five years it has 
given me no trouble until the past winter. The excessive 
cold of the northern climate caused a number of erup- 
tions to appear on the skin, which were accompanied with 
much soreness and lameness. They were confined princi- 
pally to my right leg. Having occasion to come to the 
northern part of this State, I determined while at Har- 
per's Ferry to make trial of some of the springs of Vir- 
ginia. I had not heard of the Bath Alum, and on my 
way to the springs west of this, it was almost by accident 



240 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

that I stopped here. My leg was extremely painful — it 
was with great difficulty that I could walk, and the effects 
of the disease for some nights previous had been such as 
to make me entirely restless and sleepless. After using 
the alum water moderately for tivo days, I could enjoy 
" tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep/' as well 
as any body. Soon afterwards the sore on my leg began 
to discharge freely, which it continued to do for about 
three weeks, though less and less each succeeding day. 
By this time all the itching and inflammation which 
always accompany these eruptions had been removed. 
But they were not yet in a state to heal up. I gradually 
increased the quantity of water I drank, which caused it 
to act more powerfully in throwing my disease out. A 
new sore came on my right arm, which, after discharging 
freely, healed up. Immediately another sore came in 
the same place, which disappeared in a similar manner. 
After using the alum water copiously for about five 
weeks, I had partially lost my relish for it. My relish 
for the water was restored by an intermission of its use 
for two weeks, which I spent among the mountains west 
of this. I have now used the water freely for about one 
week since my return. All the eruptions on the skin 
are healed up, and I think the disease is effectually con- 
quered. Heretofore this disease has left me in an enfee- 
bled condition, but now I am in better health than I have 
ever enjoyed. While the alum water has been rapidly 
removing my disease, its effect has been highly salutary 
on my whole system. 

CHARLES BLISS. 



CHAPTER XVI 



DIBRELl/s SPRING. 



Dibreli/s Spring is in the extreme north-western 
portion of Botetourt County, thirty miles east of the 
great Alleghany chain of mountains, and just at tjie 
western base of the Garden Mountain, on the main road 
from Lynchburg to the White Sulphur, by way of the 
James River Canal. It is nineteen miles west, by a 
direct road, from the Natural Bridge, and twenty-eight 
miles from that place by the way of Buchanan, the 
route usually traveled. 

The Spring was first opened as a watering place some 
thirty years ago, by a gentleman by the name of JQaggrar, 
and hence it is often called by his name; Subsequently, 
it was owned by the late James W. Dibrell, Esq., of 
Richmond. The present proprietor and landlord is Mr. 

Hatcher, a gentleman whose good cheer and kindly 

attentions to his guests, make him very favorably known 
to the public. 

The improvements here are neat, appropriate and com- 
fortable, and calculated for 150 persons. 

The company that assembles at this place has hereto- 
fore been largely composed of persons from the towns 
M «" 



242 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

and villages of the surrounding country, and from East- 
ern Virginia, constituting a most agreeable and social 
circle. Indeed, the place has long been remarkable for 
sociability, and there are few, if any, situations in our 
mountains where a period of relaxation from the cares 
and business of life can be more agreeably spent. Free 
and easy social intercourse, sanctioned and sustained by 
the polite courtesies of life, while it is delightful in itself, 
powerfully contributes to the relief of many ills that 
flesh is heir to. It well deserves to be taken into the 
account of the advantages accruing to the invalid at 
watering places, and cannot for a moment be overlooked 
by those who resort to such places for happiness merely. 
The Spring, which arises at the termination of a 
pretty lawn in front of the Hotel, and about two hun- 
dred yards distant from it, is a very bland and agreeable 
sulphur water, acting kindly as a diuretic, aperient, and 
gentle alterative. Holding in solution essentially the 
same medical ingredients, though probably not in as large 
an amount, that distinguish our best sulphur waters, it 
1 may be used advantageously in the various diseases for 
which sulphur waters generally are employed. Being 
less exciting than many of our sulphur waters, and acting 
at the same time kindly on the various emunctories, it 
would seem to be better adapted to some cases than the 
more potent waters. 

It is a valuable dyspeptic water^ rarely failing to pro- 
duce beneficial effects in the simple forms of that disease. 
In derangements of the biliary organs, unattended with 
obstinate obstructions, it may be used to great advantage. 



DIBRELl/S SPRING. 243 

In all cases in which a gentle diuretic is demanded, it 
will be found serviceable. 

It is a mineral water upon the use of which the inva- 
lid, who desires to induce gentle alterative effects upon 
his system, may enter with much hope, and without that 
fear of over-stimulating the organs which demands a 
prompt and decided caution in the use of our stronger 
sulphur waters. 

Professor Wm. B. Eodgers, in the course of his geo- 
logical survey of the State, chemically examined this 
water, but failing to make his analysis quantitative, it 
affords but little satisfaction. 

The following is a list of the ingredients in the water ? 
as ascertained by Professor Rodgers : 

Solid ingredients : Carbonate of soda. 
Sulphate of soda/ 
Chloride of sodium. 
Carbonate of magnesia. 
Peroxide of iron. 
Silica dissolved. 
Organic matter, containing chloride of potassium, ni- 
trogen, carbonate of iron, and carbonate of ammonia. 
Gaseous ingredients : Carbonic acid. 

Oxygen. 

Sulphuretted hydrogen. 
1 Nitrogen. 



CHAPTER XVII 



rawley's spring. 



Rawley's Spring is situated on the southern slope of 
the North Mountain, in the County of Rockingham, 
twelve miles north-west from Harrisonburg, and about 
one hundred and twenty miles north-east from the White 
Sulphur. 

The Rawley water is a strong and pure chalybeate, and 
well adapted to cases requiring such a tonic. 

The writer has had some personal experience in the 
use of this water, and for many years has been in the 
habit of occasionally directing its use in cases to which it 
is applicable. As a pure iron tonic, it deserves to stand 
at the very head of that class of remedies. 

In that class of female affections dependent upon de- 
bility, or to ant of tone in the uterine system, the water 
is an exceedingly valuable remedy. Its salutary effects 
in cases of this description are often as remarkable as 
they are gratifying, restoring the functions of the debili- 
tated organ, and imparting vigor and* health to the whole 
system. 

The Rawley waters are the strongest chalybeate known 
£ous; and if their great tonic virtues were more gen- 



244 









rawley's spring. 245 

erally known, and especially their very superior efficacy in 
the class of female derangements just alluded to, they 
would be much and beneficially resorted to by those who 
frequent watering places. 

In some forms of dyspepsia, and in nervous diseases 
with general debility and unattended with organic ob- 
structions, these waters are used with great success. 
The same may be said of their employment in many 
cases of leucorrhoea and gleet, and especially in that 
peculiar form of nervous and mental debility, the fre- 
quent result of improper youthful improprieties. 

The water of this Spring has never been finalized, but 
it is evident that the iron is held in solution in the form 
of a carbonate, which is the least irritating and the 
most efficient form in which it exists in mineral waters 

The accommodations at Rawley's are not extensive — 
sufficient, perhaps, for one hundred and fifty persons, and 
about that number may often be found there in the 
course of the season. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



FAUQUIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS.* 






The Fauquier White Sulphur Springs are situated in 
the county of Fauquier, Virginia, 56 miles from Wash- 
ington, and about 40 from Fredericksburg. 

The medical quality of the sulphur springs at this 
place, were known and highly appreciated, long before 
they were opened to the public. While the virtues of 
the waters remained in comparative obscurity, the resort 
of those living in the neighborhood caused such an inter- 
ruption to the farming operations of the proprietor, as 
induced him, after every other endeavor to keep out 
crowds of visiters had failed, to fill up the spring. 

But so clearly had its virtues been established by the 
comparatively partial trial of its virtues, that the estate 
was purchased by Hancock Lee, Esq., one of the present 
stockholders, with the view of making it a place of pub- 
lic resort. * 

These valuable waters and grounds are now owned by 
an incorporated company, under the title of the " Fau- 
quier White Sulphur Springs." The real estate, which, 



* " Six Weeks in Fauquier, by a Visiter." 

2*6 



FAUQUIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 247 

with the improvements and personal property, constitute 
the principal stock of the company, consists of about two 
thousand nine hundred and thirty-four acres of land, ly- 
ing upon' and on both ^ides of the Kappahannock river. 

The Springs establishment consists of an elegant brick 
pavilion, which, including the wings, is one hundred and 
eighty-eight feet in length, by forty-four in width. It 
is four stories high, and capable of accommodating four 
hundred persons. Across the street, and directly oppo- 
site the pavilion, stands what is called the " new build- 
ing," which is also of brick and four stories high, one 
hundred and five feet long, and thirty wide. There are 
also ninety cabins or rooms, separate and distinct from 
the pavilion and new building. Those visiters, who from 
ill health or other causes, desire the quiet and comfort of 
their own homes, added to the healthy and balmy breezes 
that steal through the valley, obtain one of these cabins, 
which, being arranged on the northern and southern 
sides of the square, and amid the serpentine and shady 
walks and playing fountains, contribute much towards 
making a somewhat distant south-east view of the prem- 
ises picturesque and beautiful. 

There is here an elegant and commodious bathing 
establishment, complete in all its arrangements and con- 
stantly supplied with the sulphur water, of any desired 
temperature. The architecture of this building is Gothic 
and forms an additional ornament to the springs. 

The first impression of the stranger on arriving here, 
especially if it be his first visit to a watering place in 
Virginia, cannot be otherwise than agreeable. The 



248 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

friendly shake of the hand, the true Virginia welcome, 
cc right hearty" and sincere, which he receives from the 
principal managers, will cause him to feel that he is not 
a stranger in a strange land, but among those -who are 
ready to participate and enjoy, in common with himself, 
all the comforts, pleasures and recreations of the valley 
of Fauquier. 

The sulphur springs, surrounded by a tasteful octag- 
onal pavilion, and supplied with seats, is situated in a 
verdant valley, about one hundred and fifty yards from 
the dining hall. It is most frequently visited at morn- 
ing and evening, when it not unfrequently presents a 
scene of beauty, cheerfulness and rational mirth, mingled 
with entertainment and instruction. 

According to analysis, which however is regarded as 
very imperfect, the water is impregnated with sulphate of 
magnesia, phosphate of soda, and sulphuretted hydrogen. 
Its temperature is 56° Fahrenheit, 10}° Eaumer. It 
has a strong sulphuric smell, and the taste being not 
unlike the odor arising from the yolk of a hard-boiled 
egg, is not, perhaps, at first very agreeable to the palate 
of a gourmand. With some reluctance, and possibly a 
few wry faces, two or three glasses may be drank during 
the first day. This disagreeable taste, however, is soon 
changed to impatient longings, and even a strong appetite 
for the water, till anon, five or six tumblers full before 
breakfast, or twenty glasses during the day, are not con- 
sidered an immoderate dose. The water operates purga- 
tively and diuretically ; the cuticular pores being opened 



FAUQUIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 249 

and perspiration, especially if the weather be warm, flows 
easily and copiously. 

The waters of Fauquier are not as strong as the sul- 
phur waters of Greenbrier and Monroe, and consequently 
will not act so soon or so powerfully on the system as the 
latter. But they are in deservedly high repute as an 
alterative, and the very gradual way in which they affect 
the system, gives them a preference to stronger waters in 
some cases ! 

They are thought to be very valuable, particularly in 
certain dyspeptic depravities, and in dropsical affections. 

The Hon. B. Watkins Leigh, late U. S. Senator from 
Virginia, was cured of a dropsy by the use of these 
waters in 1838, after having undergone the operation of 
Paracentesis for the disease. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



jordon's white sulphur springs. 



These Springs are in Frederick County, Virginia, five 
miles from the town of Winchester, and one and a half 
from Stephenson's Depot, a point on the Winchester and 
Harper's Ferry Railroad. They are situated in a small 
valley, surrounded by hills of no great altitude. The 
earth in the vicinity of the Springs is blended with slate, 
very porous, and readily absorbs all the water that falls 
upon it. Hence, it is as remarkable for its dryness, as is 
the neighborhood for its exemption, from vapors and fogs. 
The grounds about the Springs are well covered with 
grass ; are sufficiently extensive for pleasant promenades ; 
and, withal, are shaded by a variety of ornamental trees, 
among which are found the aspen, willow, sycamore, ash, 
cedar, &c. 

From several of the surrounding hills, pleasant views 
may be had of the Blue Ridge and Alleghany mountains 
and the immense gap at Harper's Ferry. One mile from 
the Springs is a small and unique mountain, covered 
with stunted pine, and known by the somewhat unpleas- 
ant cognomen of the " Devil's Back Bone." It is quite 
a "lion" in its way, and is often visited by the sojourn - 

250 



jordon's white sulphur springs. 251 

ers at " Jordon's." On the eastern side of this small 
and narrow mountain, and just at its base, flows the 
Opaquon Creek, 'affording good fishing privileges, while 
along its western base runs a small stream that winds 
tfcs way through the Spring lawn midway between the 
hotels. 

The buildings for the entertainment of the public are 
very comfortable, and consist of two large brick hotels 
and a number of cabins, and are said to be sufficient for 
the accommodation of 300 persons. 

This property was owned and occupied for seventeen 
years by Mr. Branch Jordon, who is favorably remem- 
bered by many for the excellent fare with which he sup- 
plied his guests, and especially for the admirable char- 
acter of his bread, the great staff of life, which equalled 
in quality the famous French rolls. Recently the pro- 
perty was purchased by two of Mr. Jordon's nephews, 
of the same name, and who are applying a commendable 
amount of energy and taste to the adornment and solid 
improvement of the place. 

The Spring, although not one of great boldness, af- 
fords in abundance a mild, pleasant sulphur water, of 
the temperature of 57° Fah., which is said not to be 
influenced either in quantity or temperature by wet or 
dry, hot or cold weather. Like all other sulphur waters, 
it is unpleasant at first to the palate of the uninitiated, 
but very soon it is not only tolerated, but actually pre- 
ferred to common water. 

The fountain is enclosed by marble slabs, and shaded 
by an octagon structure, supported by large pillars. Its 



252 MINERAL WATERS OP VIRGINIA. 

situation is midway between the hotels, and very conve- 
nient to all the boarders. 

These waters have never been analyzed, though it will 
probably be found, judging from the geological position 
of the fountain, as well as from the sensible properties 0/ 
the water itself, to contain less lime than many of our 
sulphur waters, and, therefore, more free from the harsh 
ingredients imparted by the sulphate and carbonate of 
that mineral ; while it holds in solution the other com- 
ponents usually found in our sulphur waters. If this 
suggestion be correct, it points it out as peculiarly val- 
uable in gravel and the* various chronic diseases of the 
kidneys, bladder and urethra. 

Medicinally, the water acts as a diuretic and slight 
aperient. As an alterative, it is found to be valuable in 
the various forms of chronic disease in which sulphur 
waters are commonly beneficial. Among other diseases, 
dyspepsia and the various gastric derangements have 
derived much benefit from its use. The same may be 
said of liver disease, haemorrhoids^ diseases of the skin, 
and rheumatism, especially when it proceeds from the 
use of mercury. Several gentlemen have borne very 
decided testimony to the superior efficacy of these waters 
in gout, and their unirritating quality would seem to 
point them out as a valuable remedy in that disease. 

The bland but sure effect of these waters upon the 
system points them out as a valuable agent in a large 
class of diseases, and inspires belief as to their successful 
attainment to still greater public favor and confidence. 



jordon's white sulphur springs. 253 

The following testimony as to the use and efficacy of 
these waters by an old and distinguished physician of 
Frederick County, Md., is every way worthy of at- 
tention : 

u I have been a visiter, at different times, for the last 
forty years, at the White Sulphur Springs of Frederick 
County, Va. My opinion of the medicinal effects of 
the water is conclusively in its favor. In all case's where 
there exists functional derangement of any of the ab- 
dominal viscera, with proper mangement, it seldom fails 
to effect relief, if not a cure. I have seen many cases of 
jaundice, depending upon the above cause, most effect- 
ually removed and robust health restored. Diseases of 
the stomach, bowels, kidneys, &c, &c, yield most readily. 
When produced by suspended perspiration, the water will 
restore the functidhs of the skin, and thereby give the 
blood a free circulation through the capillaries, and thus 
restore the equilibrium of circulation. In diseases of 
the skin, it is an active agent, especially when aided by 
the external application of the sediment or mud. I have 
seen cases cured which had resisted the most scientific 
treatment; indeed, when they were so offensive that it 
was extremely unpleasant to be near them. 

" The situation of the Spring and country around it, 
with the many facilities of approach, &c, its nearness to 
the seaboard, and the daily cars and mails, make it a 
most desirable place of resort for health or retirement 
during the heat of summer. The surrounding country 
is healthy, and the soil well calculated for invalids, as it 
never remains long wet after rains. 



254 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

" The accommodations, as far as relates to the table, 
lodging and servants, are in good keeping. The table 
affords all that is necessary for all classes of visiters, 
even the most fastidious. Indeed, injury is often done 
to the invalid by over-feeding, the temptations being irre- 
sistible. Cases are often made worse by the want of 
proper care to this part. The water, the company, the 
bracing effects of mountain air, all conspire to induce an 
unusual appetite, and this is indulged in before the sys- 
tem is prepared for it. 

" I have been afflicted with the gout for many years, 
functional derangement of the liver being the great cause. 
By a gentle alterative course of treatment, and then 
washing out with the sulphur water, has invariably 
afforded me the most decided relief. So with nearly all 
the cases that have come under my notice. 

"If you had a doctor during the season of the Springs 
to give full directions for using the water, he under- 
standing the use of them, it would add much to its ce- 
lebrity. There is one other matter I will mention. Fre- 
quently, after persons have derived all the benefits from 
the water that they had a right to expect, they return 
home and relapse. This, in many cases, can be satisfac- 
torily accounted for. Whilst at the Springs, they in- 
dulge freely in the good things afforded at the table; if 
even repletion occurs, the water aids in affording relief 
by the operation on the bowels, and thus prevents mis- 
chief. When they get home, however, they treat their 
appetite, produce repletion, headache, &c, &c. — they not 
having the benefit of the cathartic operation of the 



jordon's white sulphur springs. 255 

water, cheerful company, mountain air, &c, and retiring 
to a sedative course of life. 

"In conclusion: Every case depending upon func- 
tional derangement of the viscera and skin/ with diseases 
of the skin, may calculate upon relief, if not a cure, with 
proper management and care of the water, table and ex- 
ercise. Yours, &c, J. B." 

The following letter in reference to the virtues of the 
water is from a physician who resides in the neighbor- 
hood of the Spring, and who is familiar with its use : 

" Br. E. M. Jordan : 

"In reply to your interrogatory, 'In what diseases 
have you found the water of Jordon's White Sulphur 
Springs most beneficial Y I reply, that I have practiced 
at and near said Springs for about twelve years. 

"In dropsy, and diseases connected with the kidneys, 
except peculiar kinds of calculi, they are highly beneficial. 
No remedy in our pharmacopia will produce half the 
urinary discharge in either ascites, hydrothorax or gen- 
eral dropsy. 

"In rheumatism, its effects are very serviceable, par- 
ticularly bathing in the water ; consequently in gout, the 
near relative of rheumatism, it proves highly beneficial. 

"In torpid liver, with the usual accompaniments of 
indigestion or dyspepsia, it is inferior to no water in Vir- 
ginia. With blue pill, the liver acts freely and without 
debilitating the patient. 

" In suppressed menstruation, its effects are remarka- 
ble. Females who use the water freely in a natural con- 



256 MINERAL WATERS OE VIRGINIA. 

4 

dition, are surprised to find this monthly visiter return- 
ing semi-monthly; but such is the fact. Therefore, 
when suppression exists, no remedy is better. 

" In gleet, this water has no rival. 

" But in chronic cutaneous diseases it is peculiarly cura- 
tive. I have seen instances of the most ungovernable 
herpes cured by the application of the mud from the 
Spring, together with the use of the water. 

" The greatest misfortune connected with Jordon's 
Springs has always been, that the salubrious air, the 
good fare, and the general alterative and invigorating 
effects of the water, make gourmands of its visiters. I 
would respectfutly say to all visiters who would be 
benefited by a visit thereto, to practice abstinence, and 
benefit will certainly result. 

" Respectfully yours, J. J. J., MD. 

"April M> 1854." 



CHAPTER XX. 



SHANNONDALE SPRINGS. 



The S liannondale Springs are in the County of Jef- 
ferson, and arise in a peninsula of the Shenandoah River 
known as the " Horse Shoe." They are five and a half 
miles from Charlestown, the seat of justice for Jefferson 
County. 

The Springs are three in number, but one only is prin- 
cipally used. The temperature of the water is 55° Fah. 
as reported by Dr. De Butts. 

The Shannondale water seems to have some approxi- 
mation in its nature and effects to the celebrated Bedford 
water. It may properly be classed as a saline chalybeate, 
and may be used with good effects as a mild alterative 
tonic, in some forms of dyspepsia, nervous diseases, gen- 
eral debility unattended with severe organic derange- 
ments, chronic diseases of the mucus surfaces, such as 
gleet, luchorrhoea, &c, and to that class of female dis- 
eases requiring the aid of mineral tonics. 

The water acts generally as a diuretic, and very com- 
monly has a mild aperient effect. 

The late Dr. De Butts, of Baltimore, analyzed the 
Shannondale water in 1821. 

257 



258 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

One hundred grains of the solid contents of the water 
of the principal fountain afforded the following results : 
Sulphate of lime, - - - 63 grs. 
Carbonate of lime, - - - 10.5 
Sulphate of magnesia, - - 23.5 
Muriate of magnesia, - 1 

Muriate of soda, ... 1 

Sulphate of iron, - - - 0.3 

Carbonate of iron, - - - 0.7 

Gaseous contents : Sulph. hydrogen, quantity not ascer- 
tained. 
Carbonic acid, quantity not ascer- 
tained. 
The accommodations at Shannondale are not extensive, 
perhaps adapted to 140 or 150 persons, but it is admit- 
tedly a very delightful place, and the scenery is unsur- 
passed for its varied beauty and grandeur, eliciting the 
admiration of all who behold it. 



CHAPTER XXI 



BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS.* 



The Berkeley Springs are situated in the town of 
Bath, Morgan county, Virginia, two miles and a half 
from Sir John's Depot, a point on the Baltimore and 
Ohio Kail Road, 130 miles west of Baltimore, and 49 
miles east of Cumberland. 

These springs were resorted to by invalids at a very 
early period, and had great celebrity throughout the 
Colonies. * Hundreds annually flocked thither from all 
quarters, and traditional accounts of the accommodations 
and amusements of those primitive times are calculated 
to excite both the mirth and envy of the present age. 
Rude log huts, board and canvass tents, and even cov- 
ered wagons, served as lodging rooms, while every party 
brought its own substantial provisions of flour, meat and 
bacon, depending for lighter articles of diet on the u Hill 
folk/' or the success of their own foragers. A large 
hollow scooped in the sand, surrounded by a screen of 
pine brush, was the only bathing-house; and this was 

* I am indebted to D. H. Strether, Esq. for much of my informa- 
tion in relation to the Berkeley Springs, and particularly for the 
historical sketch of the place. 



260 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

used alternately by ladies and gentlemen. The time set 
apart for the ladies was announced by a blast on a long 
tin horn, at which signal all of the opposite sex retired 
to a prescribed distance, and woe to any unlucky wight 
who might be found within the magic circle. 

The whole scene is said to have resembled a camp- 
meeting in appearance ; but only in appearance. Here 
day and night passed in a round of eating and drinking, 
bathing, fiddling, dancing and revelling. Gaming was 
carried to a great excess, and horse-racing was a daily 
amusement. 

Such were the primitive accommodations at the first 
watering-place that was opened in Virginia, and such the 
recreations and amusements of our forefathers, about the 
eventful period that ushered us as a nation into the 
world. 

The importance of this property was appreciated by 
the country at a very early period, for in October, 1776, 
in the first year of the Commonwealth, we find the fol- 
lowing in the statute book of Virginia : 

" Whereas it hath been represented to the General 
" Assembly, that the laying off of fifty acres of land in 
" lots and streets, for a town at the Warm Springs in the 
cc county of Berkeley, will be of great utility, by encour- 
a aging the purchasers thereof to build convenient houses 
" for accommodating numbers of infirm persons who fre- 
" quent those springs yearly fof the recovery of their 
" health— 



BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS. 261 

H Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of 
" the Commonwealth of Virginia, that fifty acres of land 
" adjoining the said springs, being part of a larger tract 
" of land, the property of the Right Honourable Thomas 
" Lord Fairfax, or other person or persons holding the 
u same by a grant or conveyance from him, be, and the 
" same is hereby invested in Bryan Fairfax, Thomas 
" Bryan Mastin, Warner "Washington, Eev. Charles M. 
"Thruston, Robert Rutherford, Thomas Rutherford, 
" Alexander White, Philip Pendleton, Samuel Washing- 
" ton, William Ellzey, Van Swearengen, Thomas Hite, 
" James Edmunson, James Nourse, gentlemen trustees, 
" to be by them, or any seven of them, laid out into 
u lots of one quarter of .an acre each, with convenient 
" streets, which shall be, and the same are hereby estab- 
lished a town by the name of Bath," &c. &c. — Hen- 
ing's Statutes at Large. 

The town was consequently laid off into lots in Au- 
gust, 1777. Among the purchasers were Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton, Horatio Gates, Gen. George Washing- 
ton, and many others of note and distinction. 

In the schedule to Gen. Washington's will, we find 
the following clause : 

"Bath or Warm Springs. 
"Two well-situated and handsome buildings, to the 
"amount of £150." 



262 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

And this note of the property appended to the 
schedule : 

" Bath. 
"The lots in Bath (two adjoining) cost nie, to the best 
'"of my recollection, between fifty and sixty pounds, 
" twenty years ago. Whether property there has in- 
u creased or decreased in value, and in what condition 
" the houses are, I am ignorant ; but suppose they are 
" not valued too high." 

The sites of these houses are still pointed out. 

In the memoirs of the Baroness de Beidesil, (wife of 
the German general who was taken prisoner with Bur- 
goyne at Saratoga,) she speaks of having passed part of 
the summer of 1779 at these springs with her invalid 
husband, and mentions having made the acquaintance of 
Gen. Washington's family. She devotes a page or two 
of her most interesting work to the narration of quaint 
and pleasant incidents illustrating their mode of life at 
the springs, and at the same time illustrating (though 
unintentionally) the excellent and amiable character of 
the authoress. 

After the war of the Revolution, the accommodations 
at the springs were greatly improved and extended ; but 
as the State progressed in population and prosperity, a 
host of other bathing places and mineral springs were 
discovered and improved. Saratoga at the north, and 
the White Sulphur at the south, began to rival Berkeley 
in the race for public favor, and from the superior spirit 



BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS. 263 

and enterprise shown in their improvement, soon dis- 
tanced her. Her register of thousands was reduced to 
five or six hundred per annum, and her hotels and bath 
houses seemed destined to decay. In 1844 a fire accom- 
plished in one night what time was doing gradually ; 
fourteen buildings and half the hotel accommodations 
were destroyed. Col. John Strother, lessee of this pro- 
perty, made immediate preparations for the erection of a 
large hotel on his own ground, and by the next season, 
(1845,) had a portion of it ready for occupancy, and the 
entire elegant and extensiv« establishment completed in 
1848. The erection of this building, and the completion 
of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, have restored 
Berkeley to her former prosperity; and from 12 to 1500 
annually register there and enjoy the great luxury of her 
waters. 

Baths, &c. 

The water supplying the baths issues by three large 
springs and a number of smaller ones, from the foot of 
the Warm Spring ridge, all within seventy or eighty 
yards of each other, forming a bold and beautiful stream, 
which, in its course down the valley, supplies several 
mills and factories, and empties into the Potomac oppo- 
site to Hancock, Md., six miles distant. The water of 
all these fountains is of the same character, light, spark- 
ling and tasteless, its temperature ranging from 72° to 
74° Fah. and remaining the same at all seasons. 



264 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

The accommodations for bathing are most convenient, 
extensive and elegant. 

The gentlemen's bath house, a substantial brick build- 
ing, contains ten large bathing rooms. . The baths are of 
cement, 12 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4 J deep, filled 
from a reservoir by a four inch pipe, and containing 
about 1600 gallons each. In addition to this, and for 
the use of gentlemen, there is a swimming bath, 60 feet 
long by 20 wide, and 5 feet deep, containing 50,000 
gallons. The superstructure is handsome and tasteful, 
82 feet long, and contains 14* dressing rooms. The lux- 
ury of disporting in this ample and exhilarating pool can 
only be appreciated by those who have indulged in it. 

The ladies' bath house is an elegant structure on the 
opposite side of the grove, 90 feet long, which contains, 
in addition to 9 private baths, a plunge bath 30 feet long 
by 16 feet wide, 4 J feet deep, and floored with white 
marble. There is also an establishment for shower, 
spout and artificial warm baths. The bathing area is 
surrounded by a beautiful grove several acres in extent 
and handsomely improve^. 

The Motel accommodations are extensive and well 
gotten up. 

Strother's, the principal hotel at the place, is a large, 
elegant and well conducted establishment, adjoining the 
grove, and will comfortably accommodate about 400 per- 
sons. It is built upon three sides^ of a quadrangle 168 
feet front by 198, the front building being four stories 
high, the wings respectively being two and three stories. 
The court-yard is tastefully ornamented with trees, flowers 






BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS. 265 

and shrubbery. Altogether, it constitutes one of the 
most extensive and comfortable establishments to be 
found at any of our places of fashionable resort. 

O'Ferrairs hotel is conveniently situated, well kept, 
and will accommodate 150 persons. Other accommoda- 
tions for 150 persons may be found at the place. 

Medical Properties. 

Although these waters possess considerable medical 
virtues when taken internally, they have been most cel- 
ebrated as a bath ; their pleasant thermal temperature, 
in connection with other properties, adapting them, as 
such, to a wide range of diseases. They have never 
been accurately analyzed, but the presence of purgative 
and diuretic salts have been ascertained, though the im- 
pregnation is not strong and the amount uncertain. 

Internal Use. — This water is tasteless, insipid from its 
warmth, and so light in its character, that very large 
quantities may be taken on the stomach without pro- 
ducing oppression or uneasiness. Persons generally be- 
come fond of it after a time ; and when cooled it is a 
delightful beverage. It is beneficial in several of the 
chronic and sub-acute disorders, such as derangements of 
the stomach, with impaired appetite and feeble diges- 
tion, unconnected with any considerable degree of or- 
ganic disease. Its salutary effects in these cases would 
seem to depend upon the exceedingly light character of 

N 



266 MINERAL WATERS OP VIRGINIA. 

the waters and their gentle alkaline properties, neutral- 
izing acidity and invigorating and soothing the viscera. 

In the early stages of calculous diseases, attended with 
irritable bladder, their free use internally and externally 
is frequently of benefit. 

External Use. — Externally used, these waters are ben- 
eficial in the whole class of nervous disorders that are 
disconnected with a full plethoric habit, extreme debility, 
or severe organic derangements. 

In cases of relaxed habit and debility, where sufficient 
power of re-action exists in the system, the tonic and 
bracing influences of plunges in this water will be very 
invigorating. 

Persons suffering from a residence in a warm, low, and 
damp climate, and subject to nervous affections, will pro- 
bably be much benefited by the use of the baAs. 

To the various chronic affections of the mucus mem- 
branes, especially leucorrhoea, gleet, &c, as well as to 
that peculiar form of bronchitis which depends upon a 
relaxed condition of the membranes, with general want 
of tone in the nervous system, the water and baths are 
said to be highly beneficial. The same may be said as to 
local paralytic affections, if unconnected with congestion 
of the brain, or cerebral tendencies. 

In mildly chronic, or sub-acute rheumatism, the bath 
has long enjoyed a high reputation. Many intelligent 
persons who have long been familiar with its use, place 
the most entire reliance on it in this class of cases. 






BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS. 267 

The salubrious climate in which the springs are lo- 
cated, the ease with which they are reached by the 
Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, the well-tested value of 
their baths in all cases in which baths of their tempera- 
ture ought to be employed, together with the excellent 
accommodations at the place, must continue to make 
u Berkeley" a favorite resort of the spring-going public. 

There are in the immediate vicinity of Berkeley seve- 
ral unimproved sulphur and chalybeate springs, that will 
probably, at some day or other, be places of importance. 
Among these, and as most prominent, may be mentioned 



Orrick's Sulphur Spring, 



Situated 3 J miles from Berkeley, on the Warm' Spring 
Run, and near the road that leads to Hancock. It is a 
very pleasant water, of the temperature of about 58° 
Fah. It is now unimproved, but may, and some day 
probably will be made a place of interest, and an impor- 
tant auxiliary to the Berkeley Springs. 



CHAPTER XXII 



CAPON SPRINGS 



At the western base of the North Mountain in the 
county of Hampshire, 17 miles east of Romney, and 22 
north-west of Winchester, whence they may be reached 
by a well graded, but mountainous road, are the Capon 
Springs. They are situated in a narrow vale not far 
distant from the Capon river, and surrounded by a 
rugged and romantic mountain scenery, perhaps unsur- 
passed in trossack wildness by any in Virginia. The 
region is high and healthy, and the sources of amuse- 
ment, (often of consequence to the invalid,) and espe- 
cially those of trout and river fishing, together with the 
excitement of the mountain chase, are unsurpassed at 
any of our watering places. 

The improvements at Capon are extensive, affording 
acccommodation for about seven hundred and fifty per- 
sons. 

The largest building to be found at any of our water, 
ing places is here. It is an immense structure front- 
ing 236 feet by 40, and 5 stories high; with a portico 
200 feet in length by 16 in width. < To this main build- 
ing a wing is attached of 196 feet in length by 40 in 
width and 5 stories high. The dining-room extends the 



2fiS 



CAPON SPRINGS. 269 

entire length of the front building, and will conveniently 
seat from 900 to' 1,000 persons.* The lodging capacity 
of the house is said to be 800. This building is known 
as the "Mountain House." Besides this large estab- 
lishment, there are other hotels at the place capable of 
accommodating 150 persons, perhaps. 

The Bathing Establishment at Capon is well designed 
and handsome, affording 20 bathing-rooms for gentle- 
men, and 17 for ladies, with comfortable parlours for 
the use of the bathers. The baths are made of brick, 
coated with hydraulic cement. Shower and douche 
baths, and artificial warm baths are also supplied. 

The spring affords about 100 gallons of water per 
minute. The temperature of the water as it flows from 
the fountain is 66° Fall : in the reservior that supplies 
the baths, about 64°. 

The water is essentially tasteless and inodorous. 

Except in its thermal character it cannot be compared 
to any of the springs in our "great spring region. " 
It more resembles the waters of the Berkeley than any 
of our other springs. As a bath and a beverage, it will, 
when properly directed, be found very useful in a wide 
range of diseases, especially in idiopathic affections of 
the nervous system, dyspeptic depravities, chronic de- 
rangement of the mucus surfaces, &c. It has acquired 
some reputation, and I believe justly, as a remedy in 
gravel and other derangements of the urinary organs. 
It is a valuable water, and like its neighbour Berkeley, 
is destined to increase in favor with the spring going 
public. 



270 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

Tne Capon waters have been analyzed by Dr. Charles 
Carter, of Philadelphia, and their principal medical 
ingredients ascertained to be 

Silicic Acid, 

Magnesia, 

Soda, 

Bromine, 

Iodine, 

Carbonic Acid gas. 

Professor Wm. Gibson, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, in a letter to his son Prof. Charles Bell Gibson, 
gives the following interesting account of Capon Springs : 

"I have just returned from an excursion of ten days 
to the Capon Springs, situated upon a lofty spur of the 
Blue Bidge, in Hampshire county, Va. Although very 
familiar, as you well know, with all the celebrated water- 
ing places in the United States, and believing many of 
them to possess undoubted sanative powers in certain 
affections of the stomach and liver, I was hardly pre- 
pared to suppose that one, comparatively unknown to 
fame, and of singular efficacy in many varieties of dys- 
peptic depravity so common in our country, should have 
escaped my observation. You will be surprised, there- 
fore, when I tell you that, as far as I can j ,dge from 
a short trial, I consider Capon equal, if not superior, to 
any mineral spring in America, .as a remedy for dys- 
pepsia and the debility and depression of spirits gene- 
rally attendant upon that protei-form and eccentric ma- 



CAPON SPRINGS. 271 

lady. I had often heard my friends in Faquier and 
Loudoun counties extol the virtues of Capon in such 
glowing terms, as to induce nie to believe that their pre- 
judices as inhabitants of the Blue Ridge districts were at 
the bottom of their extravagant praises. To clear up 
my doubts upon the subject, I determined to explore 
the region in question. * * * * * * * 

"The whole scenery, for miles around the Spring, in 
every direction, is eminently beautiful and picturesque. 
But to the Spring itself: Imagine a stream of liquid or 
molten silver issuing from the base of a pile of per- 
pendicular blue rocks of immense height, bubbling up 
and forcing its way energetically to the surface ; then 
dashing off with the speed of a race-horse and forming 
for itself, within a short distance, a small shining river, 
and you can estimate the quantity of water discharged 
each minute from the Capon Spring, and the exceeding 
brightness and beauty of that water. Then when you 
dip it from the Spring and observe its uncommon blue- 
ness and transparency — such as I have never observed 
in any other water — you are tempted to swallow without 
tasting, as if it were the nectar of the heathen gods. 
And you are not disappointed; for, soft and delicious 
and perfectly free from unpleasant taste, you can throw 
off the contents of tumbler upon tumbler, without even 
the inconven'ence of stopping to take breath. In fact, 
no other water is used by man or beast about the estab- 
lishment. 

After drinking the water for a few hours, its diuretic 
properties become very evident; and from that moment 



272 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

the invalid begins to experience its beneficial results; 
for no matter how much he have been prostrated, his 
peccant humors are floated away through the medium 
of the kidneys, his spirits rise, his activity increases, 
and in a wonderfully small space of time he becomes 
a new man. The only inconvenience attending its use 
is an amazing increase of appetite; so much so, that 
the most feeble and delicate stomachs, after a few days 
become boundless in their demands upon the good cheer 
of the obliging and enterprising landlord, Mr. Waddle; 
and mountains of wild mutton and venison, and phea- 
sants and wild turkeys, and the finest vegetables, vanish 
before the multiplied attacks of quondam invalids, 
who before they left home would have sickened at the 
sight of an egg or a muffin. So insatiable does the 
thirst for this water become, that the healthiest persons 
crave it incessantly, and suffer as much while in the 
sphere of its influence, as a tobacco chewer would if de- 
prived of that fascinating weed. Not only does the 
water, when taken internally, prove eminently useful 
to almost every one, but externally applied, in the shape 
of cold or warm baths, its beneficial results in cases of 
gout, rheumatism, diseases of the skin, and several other 
affections, are beyond all question. It has, moreover, the 
singular property of cleansing the skin instantly with- 
out soap, of removing tar and other similar substances 
from the hands the moment it is applied. It operates 
most powerfully, too, upon horses,' in a very short time 
after it is used, and brings away from these animals, 
without failure, incredible quantities of botts — a species 



CAPON SPRINGS. 273 

of worm to which almost every animal of the kind is 
very prone, and from which a great number annually 
perish. When it is considered how difficult and almost 
impossible it is by other mean 8 to kill a bott — for when 
taken from the stomach of a horse and placed in the 
strongest nitric acid, they have been known to live for 
hours — does not this fact alone speak volumes in favor 
of this water? I am told, upon high authority, also, 
that it is equally useful in bringing away intestinal 
worms from children, after every other vermifuge has 
proved unavailing and nugatory. 

" All the facts I have here stated have been verified 
again and again, and are as familiar to the people of 
Hampshire and the adjoining counties, and are as sus- 
ceptible of demonstration to all that visit these Springs, 
as any proposition in Euclid. * * Capon is only 
23 miles from Winchester, by one of the best turnpike 
and mountain roads in the United States. * * * 
Only reflect, that here is a country with the wildest and 
most picturesque scenery almost at our doors ; a country 
filled with game of almost every description ; * * 
the air balmy and exhilarating as that of the Yougho- 
gany glades, where the heat is never felt in the hottest 
summer, and where a blanket can always be found com- 
fortable at night, and will never be required in the day. 

" I have formed the acquaintance here of several most 
intelligent ladies and gentlemen, all of whom have de- 
rived the greatest possible benefit from the water. Gen. 
A., a distinguished officer of the U. S. Army, visited 



274 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

Capon early in the season, almost a skeleton from dys- 
pepsia. He returned home in two or three weeks, com- 
pletely metamorphosed. He paid a second visit during 
my stay, and rode 30 miles on horseback, and felt, as 
he expressed himself to me, like one risen from the 
dead. My friend, Mr. C. S., a most respectable and 
intelligent citizen of Fairfax, I found at Capon, very 
miserable and very dyspeptic. In a few days I found 
him chasing the deer and pheasants and fishing for trout 
like a boy, and before I left he was* the most success- 
ful and energetic sportsman of the place. I could name 
many other instances within my observation. Upon 
myself the waters acted like magic. After ten days use 
of them, I felt as if I could "ride on the whirlwind 
and direct the storm." All this may seem exaggerated, 
or the effect of a heated imagination ; but I assure you 
there is no poetry in the case, except what exists in 
the nature of the scenes which T have attempted to 
describe. If you have any poor, miserable, woe-begone 
patient, who has been broken down by hard work, men- 
tal or corporeal : any judge or lawyer who has been 
working like a slave at the bench or bar : any ill paid, 
conscientious, pains-taking doctor, who has been going- 
night and day for the last twenty years : any pale student 
of divinity, who has been triturated by the wear and 
tear of soul and body : any miserable editor, who has 
been dunning subscribers from year to year, and been 
contending with black and blue devils, until he is nearly 
knocked into pi : if you have any or all of these as your 
patients, send them to Capon, and my word upon it, 



CAPON SPRINGS. 275 

they will all return novo homines, and be prepared, for 
years to come, to follow their specific vocations with 
more energy and effect than they ever ' dreamed of in 
their philosophy/ When we meet, I will give you in 
detail additional information touching this enchanting 
and salubrious region." 



CHAPTER XXIII 



GRAYSON 1SULPHUR SPRINGS. 



The Grayson Sulphur Springs are located immedi- 
ately on the west side of the Blue Ridge, in the County 
of Carroll, about twenty miles south of Wytheville. 
They rise on the bank of the New River, in the midst of 
scenery remarkable for its wildness and picturesque 
grandeur, in a region as healthy as any in our country, 
and abounding in fish and game of every variety that is 
found in our mountains. 

The improvements here are recent and not extensive, 
but the waters have advanced within the last few years 
in popular favor, and quite a number of visiters assemble 
at the place during the watering season. To those who 
are fond of fishing and hunting, Grayson offers strong 
inducements. 

The waters of these Springs are decidedly sulphurous, 
and have been found useful in the various dyspeptic de- 
pravities, rheumatism, and other diseases in which the 
sulphur waters are generally used. - 

These waters have been analyzed by Professor Rodgers, 

of the University of Virginia, and Dr. Aiken, of Balti- 
cs 









GRAYSON SULPHUR SPRINGS. '277 

more. The result of the analysis shows that in a given 
quantity of their solid contents there is found — 

Soda, 4 

Carbonate of magnesia, 3 

Carbonate of lime, - - - 8 

Sulphate of lime, ... 2 

Sulphate of magnesia, 3 

Chloride of sodium, 2 

Chloride of calcium, 3 

Chloride of magnesium, - - If 

Sulphate of soda, ... 4| 

Sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid gases abound 
in the water. 

Grayson Springs are conveniently reached by persons 
traveling either in public or private conveyances, from 
the upper portions of North or South Carolina, into the 
great Spring region of Virginia. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 



The Alleghany Springs are situated on the south fork 
of Roanoke River, in the County of Montgomery, three 
miles South of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. 
They are eighteen miles S. W. from the town of Salem , 
and ten miles E. from Christiansburg. 

The property is owned by the Messrs. Holts, and at 
present furnishes accommodations for two or three hun- 
dred visiters. These Springs are growing in popular 
favor, and the energies of the proprietors are being ex- 
erted to keep their accommodations equal to the public 
demand. 

Although the Alleghany Springs have long been es- 
teemed valuable by persons in their immediate neighbor- 
hood, it is only within the last two or three years that 
they have attracted much general attention. The water 
of these Springs has not been analyzed. It is regarded, 
however, as belonging distinctly to the saline class, and 
to abound especially in sulphate of 'magnesia. It is 
cathartic, and somewhat diuretic in its operations, and 
many patients, together with several judicious physicians 
who have tested its virtues, regard it as a very superior 
mineral water in dyspepsia. 



ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 279 

As yet, experience in its use has, perhaps, been too 
limited to assign to it its distinct position as a therapeu- 
tical agent ; but it may justly be regarded as a very in- 
teresting medicinal agent, and one that promises to take 
high rank with the mineral waters of the State. 

The facility with which these Springs may be ap- 
proached, from the east or west, by the railroad, together 
with the great healthfulness of the climate in which they 
are situated, are very favorable to their annual increase 
of visiters, and consequently to their success as a water- 
ing place. 



CHAPTER XXV 



PULASKI ALUM SPRING. 

This Spring is situated in the N. W. portion of the 
County of Pulaski, on Little Walker's Creek, about ten 
miles from the town of Newbern, and seven in a direct 
line from the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. It is 
owned by Mr. Hunter, who now furnishes accommoda- 
tions for about 100 visiters, and who is actively engaged 
in so enlarging his improvements as to make them com- 
mensurate with the public demands. 

This water has not been analyzed, but we are informed 
by intelligent persons familiar with our alum waters, that 
it very much resembles, both in its sensible qualities and 
its medicinal operations, the water of the Rockbridge 
Alum. It already enjoys a high reputation in its neigh- 
borhood, as a remedy for scrofula, cutaneous diseases, 
and other affections for which the alum waters of Rock- 
bridge have become celebrated. 

The fine salubrious climate in which the Spring is 
found, and the convenience with which it can be ap- 
proached by the Railroad, together with the value of its 
waters as a medicinal agent, make it a place of interest 
and importance to the Spring going public. 



CHAPTER XXVI 



NEW LONDON ALUM SPRING. 



For a number of years it has been known that alum is 
a constituent part of a rock that is found in large masses 
near the town of New London, in the county of Camp- 
bell, 10 miles south-west of Lynchburg. An excavation 
made several years ago into the ground, penetrating this 
rock, but with no view of obtaining alum water, the 
virtues of which were not then appreciated, has, from 
the exudation of water through the layers of rock, af- 
forded an alum of sufficient purity to be used by the 
good housewives of the vicinity for " setting their dies." 

The medical reputation acquired within the last few 
years by the alum waters of Eockbridge, induced the 
proprietor of this rock, P. Echols, Esq., to sink a shaft 
or well into it, with the hope of obtaining alum water in 
sufficient quantity to be used for medical purposes. His 
enterprise has been crowned with entire success. On 
penetrating the rock to the depth of 16 feet, he came to 
several leaps or percolations of water, furnishing a suffi- 
cient amount to induce him to suspend further opera- 
tions and to cut an entrance into the basin, or spring, 
after the manner of ancient wells, and of sufficient size 



282 MINERAL •WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

to admit of easy ingress and egress to and from the 
fountain. 

This water has been much used since its discovery, for 
various diseases, and as popular fame alleges, and as 
.several sensible and judicious persons in the neighbor- 
hood have assured me, with very great advantage. 

An intelligent gentleman of the county of Bedford, 
who has been using this water in his family, writes me 
thus in reference to it : 

" An invalid member of my family has been using the 
New London alum water for several months, and with 
very pleasant and beneficial results. Three glasses a day 
operate gently, but efficiently, upon the bowels, pro- 
ducing effects much resembling the operations from blue 
pill. It also promotes very decidedly the secretion of 
the kidneys, while it acts as a generous tonic, increasing 
the appetite and strengthening the general system. I 
have heard of several cures, that may well be called won- 
derful, that have been effected in this county from the 
use of this water." 

As a medicinal agent, this water is yet so new, and the 
cases in which it has been tried are so undefined as to 
their precise nature or pathology,, that it is difficult to 
say, with any degree of confidence, what may be its 
peculiar therapeutical agency or medical adaptations. It 
is a water, however, that is justly exciting public atten- 
tion, and is probably destined to occupy a high position 
among our mineral waters. 

Since the above was written, I have been furnished 
with an analysis of the water of this spring by Professor 



NEW LONDON ALUM SPRING. 283 

G-ilham, and the following communication from that gen- 
tleman shows the result of his chemical investigations : 

V. M. Institute, 
Lexington, Va., Nov. 30, 1853. 
My Bear Sir : I enclose you the results obtained in 
the analysis of a sample of alum water furnished me by 
Mr. Echols. 

A gallon of water furnished the following mineral 

constituents : 

Sulphuric acid, - - 59.008 grains. 

Magnesia, - - - 4.320 " 

Protoxide of iron, - - 11.112 " 

Alumina, - - - 4.072 " 

Lime, - - - 7.768 <f 

Potassa, - - '- 5.064 " 

If we now suppose, which is the most probable suppo- 
sition, that the sulphuric acid forms simple combinations 
with the above bases, in the proportions of one atom, or 
equivalent, of acid, to one atom, or equivalent, of base, 
we shall have the various salts of the acid in the follow- 
ing proportions : 

Sulphate of magnesia, 12.664 grs. to the gal. 

" prot. of iron, 23.456 " " 

" alumina, 7.240 * " 

" lime, 18.672 " " 

« potassa, 10.160 " " 

And, in addition, we have of freer or uncombined 

sulphuric acid, 19.976 grains. 

Respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

[ WILLIAM GILHAM. 

Dr. J J. Moorman, Fancy Hill. 



284 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

This analysis of Professor Gilham will give confidence 
as to the component parts of this water, while it indi- 
cates, as far as can be done by chemistry, its appropriate 
medical adaptations. 

Suggesting now, as heretofore, when treating of the 
analysis of other waters in connection with their medi- 
cinal rise, the uncertainty of any analysis as a basis for 
the administration of mineral waters, I remark, that we 
have a new and valuable light in this particular case, not 
always accessible to new and untried waters, Between 
the analysis of this water, and the alum waters of Bath 
and Rockbridge, whose reputation and adaptations are 
now pretty well established, there is a similarity in sev- 
eral respects, so striking as to induce the belief that they 
are suited to the same general range of disease. 

The intelligent physician at all acquainted with the 
peculiar action of the alum waters, and looking to the 
leading indications afforded by the analysis of this, will 
not fail to perceive that it is pointed out as a valuable 
remedy in a large circle of cases that require an alterative 
tonic treatment. It will probably be found valuable in 
the various forms of Salt Rheum, as such waters inva- 
riably are ; while its good effects in Chlorosis, and other 
female affections, unattended with febrile action, may be 
looked to, W£ would think, with decided confidence. 




**& 



/ 4 



: - 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



HUGUENOT SPRINGS. 



This watering place is in Powhatan County, about 
seventeen miles above Richmond. It is situated near 
the centre of a tract of land granted by the British 
Crown to a body of Protestant refugees driven from 
France by the repeal of the edict of Nantes in 1685, 
who came to our shores near the close of that century 
and settled in Powhatan and Chesterfield. From this 
circumstance, which cannot be without interest to a 
brave and free people, strenuous upholders of the rights 
of conscience as the Americans have always been, the 
name of these Springs was taken when it was deter- 
mined to establish them as a watering place. 

Their situation is more than ordinarily striking. On 
approaching the place from the north, along a broad and 
level road, the hotel emerges to view across a smooth 
green lawn, bounded on each side by a graveled avenue 
which is used as a carriage way. On both sides of this 
lawn, beyond the avenues, are rows of cabins, placed a 
little irregularly and at varying distances, but which, 
partly seen and partly concealed among the scattered 
trees, contribute to the picturesque effect. Near the 



■■■ 



286 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

western row, a little in advance of it, and not far from 
the hotel, is an elegant pavilion, shaded by half-grown 
trees — a favorite resort with the ladies. On approaching 
nearer the hotel, the eye is arrested by a cabin in the 
rear of the western row, standing a little apart, on the 
brow of a bold rounded hill. This was built by Major 
Wooldridge, one of the proprietors of the place, and is 
occupied by him as the summer residence of his family. 
Perhaps a scientific observer might be at a loss to deter- 
mine the exact style of its architecture, which seems of 
a composite order, and it may be a little fantastic; but 
all will agree that its long piazzas, numerous windows, 
and light, airy, half-oriental cast, produce a pretty and 
pleasing effect, and adapt it well for a summer sojourn. 
But the hotel is the object which first arrests the view 
of the visiter. It is of large size, being 120 feet long, 
is three stories high, and has three broad piazzas running 
its entire length. Its position is at the lower extremity 
of the lawn above described. On the southern side the 
ground is level for only about fifty feet, after which it 
descends rapidly, though not abruptly, to an extensive 
valley, open in general, but interspersed with trees, and 
marked in various directions by intersecting roads. 
From this valley a lateral branch or broad ravine passes 
northward, running west of the western row of cabins ; 
while, from the other extremity of the valley, another 
ravine of about the same dimensions runs parallel to the 
first, at nearly the same distance from the eastern row of 
cabins. The hotel thus occupies the southern extremity 
of a high level plateau of singularly symmetrical propor- 



HUGUENOT SPRINGS. 287 

tions, which gives it a commanding position, similar, in 
its more striking features, to that of the Capitol in Rich- 
mond before the western ravine of the square had been 
reduced by the recent grading and filling. 

Near the point where the western ravine enters the 
main valley is the sulphur spring, which fills a marble 
reservoir and then passes off by a covered conduit into 
the brook running close by. It has a tasteful pavilion 
erected over it. Immediately west of this spring rises a 
high, bold bluff, free from undergrowth, but covered with 
tall trees, which, being cool and breezy, and furnished 
with numerous seats, is a favorite retreat for those fond 
of quiet reading or lonely musing. Not far from the 
corresponding point in the eastern ravine, but a little 
more northward, is the chalybeate spring. No pavilion 
has been erected over this, the high embowering trees 
being a sufficient covering ) but the spring is surrounded 
by a low-walled parapet. The stream issues from a fissure 
in a large sandstone, and a reservoir for the water has 
been hewn out of its native rocky bed. In the valley 
south of the hotel, a little to the west, is the well from 
which is obtained a water strongly tinctured with both 
sulphur and iron. This is used, not only for drinking, 
but for bathing, its medicinal properties when employed 
in this way being considered highly valuable. Of these 
waters, the first has been analyzed by Professor W. B. 
Rodgers, who determined its properties to be similar to 
those of the Greenbrier White Sulphur water, but 
weaker. The second was analyzed by Professor Socrates 
Maupin, who pronounced it a mild and pure chalybeate. 



288 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

The third has not yet been analyzed, though the proprietors 
intend shortly to have it done ; but if the award of ex- 
perience is of any value, it is a fine, invigorating tonic, 
highly useful in cases of children, and more especially 
in female disorders. 

Pleasant public retreats near large towns are always a 
blessing to the community. During the hot summer 
months, the system, debilitated by a city residence, often 
gives easy access to the dangerous diseases by which 
human life is perpetually assailed. This remark is true 
in regard to all persons of feeble constitutions, and to 
men subject to the languor and lassitude of a close, labo- 
rious occupation. In the cases of such, a short visit to 
a place of the kind, where good fare and comfortable 
accommodations may be had, and pleasant society and 
amusements are offered, often gives a healthful, elastic 
tone to the system which bears it safely through the 
heat, dust and weariness of city life during the season 
when the dog-star is raging. 

The benefit is still greater if to these ordinary advan- 
tages is added a mineral water which, as such waters 
usually are, is mildly medicinal in its effects. There are 
many who think these waters are of use only in a few 
exceptional cases to which their properties are specially 
adapted ; and that the marked improvement of health so 
often exhibited is to be ascribed solely to change of air 
and scene, and to relaxation from the toils of business. 
These last have certainly their influence, and that influ- 
ence is doubtless a highly salutary one. But it is an 
error to refer all the advantage to this source, or to sup- 



HUGUENOT SPRINGS. 289 

pose that the number is small of those to whom mineral 
waters are beneficial. In general they are mild tonics, 
whose tendency is to open and excite languid secretions ; 
and in cases of protracted weakness or lingering disor- 
ders, their good effect is often great as gentle alteratives, 
correcting the diseased habit of body and restoring health 
and vigor to the frame. This view is supported by the 
high popular favor such springs have secured both in 
ancient and in modern times; and certainly a benefit 
thus avouched by what may be called universal expe- 
rience should not be lightly regarded. 

The Huguenot Springs bear a high character for the 
excellence of the fare and general accommodations. In 
this respect their vicinity to Richmond gives them great 
advantages. The hotel and cabins together offer ample 
accommodations to 150 visiters, which number might be 
doubled with little inconvenience, if the crowding sys- 
tem adopted at some other springs were pursued here. 

From Richmond the visiter to the Huguenot Springs 
takes the Danville train and proceeds about ten miles to 
Robiou's. At that place he is met by two large stages, 
or omnibuses, sent by the proprietors, which, together, 
are capable, without inconvenient crowding, of conveying 
nearly forty persons. The entire cost of the trip is about 
one dollar. He reaches the Springs about 9, A. ML, and 
has ample time to look around and judge for himself in 
regard to all the advantages offered by the place, before 
the dinner hour arrives. After that, if the Springs are 
too crowded for his taste, or any other consideration in- 
duces him to return, he can do bo the same evening, and 
o 



290 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 

be in Richmond again by 6 o'clock. Moreover, for such 
as have families at the Springs, or may otherwise find it 
convenient, the train and the omnibus carry up visiters 
every Saturday evening, and return them to the city by 
9 o'clock on Monday morning. This, we believe, is a 
permanent arrangement, and it affords great facilities to 
the spring-going folk of Richmond. 

For amusements, besides music and the dance, for 
which they have a band and a ball-room of large size, 
well suited to the purpose, there is a bowling saloon and 
a billiard room, the former free of charge. Exhibitions 
of fire-works take place from time to time through the 
summer ; cotillion parties are had weekly, and large balls 
occasionally. The grand finale of the season is a tour- 
nament, in which gallant young gentlemen strive to- 
gether in deeds of daring, each contending for the 
honor of placing the crown of love and beauty on the 
head of his selected fair. Then follow a coronation and 
a fancy ball, and so the season closes in gaiety and 
splendor. 



APPENDIX. 



NATURAL CURIOSITIES OF VIRGINIA. 



As many who resort to the Mineral Springs of Vir- 
ginia desire, in the progress of their travel, to see the 
Natural Curiosities that may be conveniently accessible, 
we have thought that an acceptable service would be ren- 
dered to such, by enumerating the more interesting of 
these objects of the traveller's curiosity, and by indi- 
cating the routes by which they can conveniently be 
reached. 



harper's ferry, 



On the Potomac, in the county of Jefferson, and imme- 
diately on the great line of rail road from Baltimore to 
Cumberland in Maryland, and to Winchester in Virginia, 
has been rendered classic ground by the pen of the sage 
of Monticello. It derives its interest from a happy com- 
mingling of scenery at once wild, beautiful, and magnifi- 
cent. Mr. Jefferson, in his t Notes on Virginia, says, it 
" is one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. You 
stand on a very high point of land ; on your right up 
comes the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of 
the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your 



294 APPENDIX. 

left approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also ; 
in the moment of their junction they rush together 
against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to 
the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses 
into the opinion that this earth has been created in time ; 
that the mountains were formed first; that the rivers 
began to flow afterwards ; that in this place particularly, 
they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge moun- 
tains, and have formed an ocean which filled the whole 
valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at length 
broken over at this spot, and have torn the mountain 
down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on 
each hand, particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident 
marks of their disrupture and avulsion from their beds 
by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the 
impression. But the distant finishing which Nature has 
given to the picture is of a very different character ; it is 
a true contrast to the foreground ; it is as placid and de- 
lightful as that is wild and tremendous; for the mountain 
being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through 
the clefts, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an 
infinite distance in the plain country, inviting you, as it 
were, from the riot and tumult warring around, to pass 
through the breach and participate of the calm below. 
There the eye ultimately composes itself, and that way, 
too, the road happens actually to lead. You cross the 
Potomac above the junction, pass along its side through 
the base of the mountain for three miles, its terrible 
precipices hanging in fragments over you, and within 
about twenty miles reach Frederickstown and the fine 



APPENDIX. 295 

country around that. The scene is worth a voyage 
across the Atlantic, yet here, as in the neighborhood of 
the Natural Bridge, are people who have passed their 
lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been to 
survey these monuments of a war between rivers and 
mountains, which must have shaken the earth itself to its 
centre.*" 

The grounds adjoining Harper's Ferry are the site of 
a United States Arsenal, and the extensive manufactories 
that are constantly in operation fabricating the various 
implements of war, are well worthy of a visit from the 
passing traveller. 

From Harper's Ferry, the visiter to the Virginia 
Springs should take the rail cars to Winchester ; thence 
by stage coaches up the fertile valley of the Shenandoah, 
and at the distance of eighty miles he peaches the little 
village of Mount Sidney, in the dounty of Augusta. 
Seven miles east of this village, and not far from the 
western base of the Blue Ridge mountains, is the famous 

V 

weyer's cave. 

This cave derives its name from Bernard "Weyer, who 
discovered it in 1804, while in pursuit of a wild animal 
that took refuge in it. 

It would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of the 
u vastness and sublimity of some, or the exquisite beauty 
and grandeur of other, of its innumerable apartments, 
with their snowy white concretions of a thousand various 



296 APPENDIX. 

forms. Many of these, with their striking and pictu- 
resque objects, have names exceedingly inappropriate, 
which, to mention, would degrade any description, how- 
ever well written, by the association of the beautiful and 
sublime with the vulgar and hackneyed." Its largest 
apartment is known as Washington Hall, and is 250 
feet in length. A foreign traveller who visited the cave 
at an annual illumination, gives the following description 
of this hall : „ 

" There is a fine sheet of rock-work running up the 
centre of this room, and giving it the aspect of two sepa- 
rate and noble galleries, till you look above, where you 
observe the partition rises only 20 feet towards the roof, 
and leaves the fine arch expanding over your head un- 
touched. There is a beautiful connection here standing 
out in the room, which certainly has the form and 
drapery of a gigantic statue ; it bears the name of the 
Nation's Hero; and the whole place is filled with these 
projections — appearances which excite the imagination 
by suggesting resemblances, and leaving them unfinished. 
The general effect, too, was perhaps indescribable. The 
fine perspective of this room, four times the length of an 
ordinary church ; the numerous tapers, when near you, 
so encumbered by deep shadows as to give only a dim, 
religious light, and when at a distance, appearing in their 
various attitudes like twinkling stars on a deep, dark 
heaven ; the amazing vaulted roof spread over you, with 
its carved and knotted surface, to which the streaming 
lights below in vain endeavored to convey their radiance ; 
together with the impression that you had made so deep 



APPENDIX. 297 

an entrance, and were so entirely cut off from the living 
world and ordinary things; produces an effect which, 
perhaps, the mind can receive but once, and will retain 
forever." 

"Weyer's Cave," says the same writer, "is, in my 
judgment, one of the great natural wonders of this new 
world, and for its eminence in its own class, deserves to 
be ranked with the Natural Bridge and Niagara, while it 
is far less known than either. Its dimensions, by the 
most direct course, are more than 1,600 feet, and by the 
more winding paths, twice that length; and its objects 
are remarkable for their variety, formation and beauty. 
In both respects, it will, I think, compare, without 
injury to itself, with the celebrated Grotto of Antiparos. 
For myself, I acknowledge the spectacle to have been 
most interesting ; but to be so, it must be illuminated 
as on this occasion. I had thought that this circum- 
stance might give the* whole a toyish effect; but the 
influence of 2,000 or 3,000 lights on these immense 
caverns is only such as to reveal the objects, without 
disturbing the solemn and sublime obscurity which sleeps 
on every thing. Scarcely any scenes can awaken so 
many passions at once, and so deeply. Curiosity, appre- 
hension, terror, surprise, admiration, and delight, by 
turns and together arrest and possess you. I have had 
before, from other objects, one simple impression made 
with greater power ; but I never had so many impres- 
sions made, and with so much power, before. If the 
interesting and the awful are the elements of the sub- 



298 APPENDIX. 

lime, here sublimity reigns, as in her own domain, in 
darkness, silence, and deeps profound." 



madison's cave. 



Within a few hundred yards of Weyer's, is Madison's 
Cave. It is thus described by Mr. Jefferson, in his 
" Notes on Virginia" : 

" It is on the north side of the Blue Ridge, near the 
intersection of the Rockingham and Augusta line with 
the south fork of the southern river of Shenandoah. It 
is in a hill of about 200 feet perpendicular height, the 
ascent of which on one side is so steep, that you may 
pitch a biscuit from its summit into the river which 
washes its base. The entrance of the cave is in this 
side, about two-thirds of the way up. It extends into 
the earth about 300 feet, branching into subordinate 
caverns, sometimes ascending a little, but more generally 
descending, and at length terminates in two different 
places at basins of water of unknown extent, and which 
I should judge to be nearly on a level with the water of 
the river ; however, I do not think they are formed by 
refluent water from that, because they are never turbid ; 
because they do not rise and fall in correspondence with 
that in times of flood, or of drought, and because the 
water is always cool. It is probably one of the many 
reservoirs with which the interior parts of the earth are 
supposed to abound, and which yield supplies to the 
fountains of water, distinguished from others only by its 



APPENDIX. 299 

being accessible. The vault of this cave is of solid lime- 
stone, from 20 to 40 or 50 feet high, through which 
water is continually percolating. This, trickling down 
the sides of the cave, has encrusted them over in the 
form of elegant drapery j and dripping from the top of 
the vault generates on that, and on the base below, sta- 
lactites of a conical form, some of which have met and 
formed massive columns." 



BLOWINa CAVE. 

On the stage road between the Rockbridge and Bath 
Alum Springs, and one mile west of the little village of 
Milboro', in a high ledge near the bank of the Cow Pas- 
ture river, is the Blowing Cave, noticed by Mr. Jefferson 
in his " Notes on Virginia." The mouth of the cave is 
30 or 40 feet above the road; it is semi-circular in shape, 
and about 4 feet in height. This cave has been explored 
for a considerable distance. It is said that a small dog 
who entered its mouth, found his way out by some un- 
known passage. * " When the internal and external at- 
mosphere is the same, there is no perceptible current 
issuing from it. In intense hot weather, the air comes 
out with so much force as to prostrate the weeds at the 
entrance. In intense cold weather, the air draws in. 
There is a Flowing and Ebbing Spring on the same 
stream with the Blowing Cave, which supplies water- 

*Howe. 



300 APPENDIX. 

power for a grist-mill, a distillery, and a tan-yard. It 
flows irregularly. When it commences; the water bursts 
out in a body as if let loose from a dam." This is called 
by Mr. Jefferson a Syphon Fountain. Two others of the 
same kind are known in Virginia ; one in Brooks' Gap, in 
Rockingham county, the other near the mouth of the 
North Hoist on. 



NATURAL BRIDGE. 

This, perhaps the most celebrated of the Natural Cu- 
riosities of Virginia, is in the county of Rockbridge, and 
near the geographical centre of the State, 172 miles west 
from Richmond, and 63 east from the White Sulphur 
Springs. The mean height of the bridge from Cedar 
Creek, which flows under it, is 215 feet. Its length is 
93 feet, its average width 80 feet,, the thickness of its 
arch 55 feet. Its height is greater than the Falls of 
Niagara by about fifty-five feet, and by some who have 
seen both, it is regarded as a greater object of wonder. 
Whatever may be its relative merits when compared with 
the peerless Niagara, it admittedly ranks high among the 
natural curiosities of the world, and is well worthy of a 
visit by all the pleasure-jaunting public that visit our 
mountains. 

An accomplished European traveller thus describes the 
Bridge, and his own impressions on viewing it : 

" This famous bridge is on the head of a fine limestone 
hill, which has the appearance of having been rent asun- 



APPENDIX. 301 

der by some terrible convulsion m nature. The fissure 
thus made is about ninety feet ; and over it the bridge 
runs, so needful to the spot, and so unlikely to have 
survived the great fracture, as to seem the work of man ; 
so simple, so grand, so great, as to assure you that it is 
only the work of God. The span of the arch runs from 
45 to 60 feet wide, and its height, to the under line, is 
about 200 feet, and to the head about 240 ! The form 
of the arch approaches to the elliptical, and it is carried 
over on a diagonal line, the very line of all others so dif- 
ficult to the architect to realize; and yet so calculated to 
enhance the picturesque beauty of the object ! 

There are chiefly three points of sight. You naturally 
make your way to the head of the bridge first ; and as it 
is a continuation of the common road, with its sides 
covered with fine shrubs and trees, you may be on it 
before you are aware. But the moment you approach 
through the foliage to the side, you are filled with appre- 
hension. It has, indeed, a natural parapet ; but few per- 
sons can stand forward and look over. You instinctively 
seek to reduce your height, that you may gaze on what 
you admire with security. Even then it agitates you 
with dizzy sensations. * 

You- then make your way some fifty feet down the 
bosom of the hill, and are supplied with some admirable 
standings on the projecting rock-work, to see the bridge 
and all its rich accompaniments. There is, 200 feet 
below you, the Cedar River, apparently motionless, ex- 
cept where it flashes with light as it cuts its way through 
the broken roeks. Mark the -trees of every variety, but 



302 APPENDIX. 

especially the fir, how they diminish as they stand on 
the margin of its bed ; and how they ascend step by step 
on the noble rock-work, till they overshadow you ; still 
preserving such delicacy of form and growth as if they 
would not do an injury, while they lend a grace. Ob- 
serve those hills, gathering all around you in their fairest 
forms and richest verdure, as if to do honor to a scene of 
surpassing elegance. Now look at the bridge itself, 
springing from this bed of verdant loveliness, distinct, 
one, complete ! It is before you in its most picturesque 
form. You just see through the arch, and the internal 
face of the further pier is perfectly revealed. Did you 
ever see such a pier — such an arch ? Is it not most illu- 
sive ! Look at that masonry. Is it not most like the 
perfection of art, and yet what art could never reach ? 
Look at that coloring. Does it not look like the painter's 
highest skill, and yet unspeakably transcend it ? 

This is exquisite. Still you have no just conception 
of this master-piece until you get below. You go some 
little distance for this purpose/ as in the vicinity of the 
bridge the rocks are far too precipitous. A hot and bril- 
liant day is, of all others, the time to enjoy this object. 
To escape from a sun which scorches you, into these ver- 
dant and cool bottoms, is a luxury of itself, which dis- 
poses you to relish every thing else. When down, I was 
very careful of the first impression, and did not venture 
to look steadily on the objects about me till I had selected 
my station. At length I placed myself about 100 feet 
from the bridge, on some masses of rock which were 
washed by the running waters, and ornamented by the 



APPENDIX. 303 

slender trees which were springing from its fissures. At 
mj feet was the soothing melody of the rippling, gushing 
waters. Behind me, and in the distance, the river and 
the hills were expanding themselves to the light and 
splendor of day. Before me, and all around, every thing 
was reposing in the most delightful shade, set off by the 
streaming rays of the sun, which shot across the head of 
the picture far above you, and sweetened the solitude 
below. On the right and left, the majestic rocks arose 
with the decision of a wall, but without its uniformity, 
massive, broken, beautiful, and supplying a most admira- 
ble foreground; and, every where, the most delicate 
stems were planted in their crevices, and waving their 
heads in the soft breeze, which occasionally came over 
them. The eye now ran through the bridge, and was 
gratified with a lovely vista. The blue mountains stood 
out in the back-ground; beneath them the hills and 
woods gathered together, so as to enclose the dell below ; 
while the river, which was coursing away from them, 
seemed to have its well-head hidden in their recesses. 
Then there is the arch, distinct from every thing, and 
above every thing. Massive as it is, it is light and beau- 
tiful by its height, and the fine trees on its summit seem 
now only like a garland of evergreens ; and, elevated as 
it is, its apparent elevation is wonderfully increased by 

] the narrowness of its piers, and by its outline being 
drawn on the blue sky, which appears beneath and above 

] it ! Oh, it is sublime — so strong, and yet so elegant — 
springing from earth, and bathing its head in heaven ! 

VBut it is the sublime not allied to the terrific, as at Ni- 



304 APPENDIX. 

agara; it is the sublime associated with the pleasing. I 
sat, and gazed with wonder and astonishment. That 
afternoon was the shortest I ever remembered. I had 
quickly, too quickly, to leave the spot forever; but the 
music of those waters, the luxury of those shades, the 
form and colors of those rocks, and that arch — that 
arch — rising over all, and seeming to offer a passage to 
the skies — 0, they will never leave me." 



PEAKS OF OTTER. 

These celebrated mountain heights, with one or two 
exceptions, are of greater altitude than any other moun- 
tains in the southern country. They are in the county 
of Bedford, ten miles by the public road from the beau- 
tiful village of Liberty, and about thirty-five miles from 
the city of Lynchburg. Mr. Howe, in his interesting 
history of Virginia, states that the northern peak is 
4200 feet above the plain, and 5307 feet above the level 
of the ocean, which is more than a mile in height. 
The summits of these peaks are, perhaps, two miles 
apart. The most southerly, or the conical peak, is much 
visited. A writer in the Southern Literary Messenger 
gives the following account of his visit to these interest- 
ing heights : 

u After riding about a mile and a quarter, we came to 
the point beyond which horses cannot be taken, and dis- 
mounting our steeds, commenced ascending on foot. 
The way was very steep, and the day so warm that we 



APPENDIX. 305 

had to halt often to take breath. As we approached the 
summit, the trees were all of a dwarfish growth, and 
twisted and gnarled by the storms of that high region. 
There were also a few blackberry bushes, bearing their 
fruit long after the season had passed below. A few 
minutes longer brought us to where the trees ceased to 
grow ; but a huge mass of rocks, piled wildly on top of 
each other, finished the termination of the peak. Our 
path lay for some distance around the base of it, and 
under the overhanging battlements, and rather descend- 
ing for a while, until it led to a part of the pile which 
could with some effort be scaled. There was no ladder, 
nor any artificial steps, and the only means of ascent 
was by climbing over the successive rocks. We soon 
stood upon the wild platform of one of nature's most 
magnificent observatories, isolated and apparently above 
all things else terrestrial, and looking down upon and over 
a beautiful, variegated, and at the same time grand, wild, 
wonderful, and almost boundless panorama. Indeed, it 
was literally boundless, for there was a considerable haze 
resting upon some parts of the 6 world below/ so that, in 
the distant horizon, the earth and sky seemed insensibly 
to mingle with each other. I had been there before. I 
remember, when a boy of little more than ten years old, 
to have been taken to that spot, and how my unpracticed 
nerves forsook me at the sublimity of the scene. 

u On this day it was as new as ever 5 as wild, ^won- 
derful and sublime as if I had never before looked from 
those isolated rocks, or stood on that awful summit. On 
one side, towards Eastern Virginia, lay a comparatively 



306 APPENDIX. 

level country, in the distance bearing strong resemblance 
to the ocean; on the other hand were ranges of high 
mountains, interspersed with cultivated spots, and then 
terminating in piles of mountains, following in succes- 
sive ranges, until they were lost also in the haze. Above 
and below, the Blue Eidge and Alleghanies run off in 
long lines ; sometimes relieved by knolls and peaks, and 
in one place above us making a graceful curve, and then 
again running off in a different line of direction. 

"Very near us stood the rounded top of the other 
peak, looking like a sullen sentinel for its neighbor. 

" We paused in silence for a time. We were there 
almost cut off from the world below, standing where it 
was fearful even to look down. It was more hazy than 
at the time of my last visit, but not so much so as to de- 
stroy the interest of the scene. 

" There was almost a sense of pain at the stillness 
which seemed to reign. We could hear the flappings of 
the wings of the hawks and the buzzards, as they seemed 
to be gathering a new impetus after sailing through one 
of their circles in the air below us. North of us, and on 
the other side of the Valley of Virginia, were the moun- 
tains near Lexington, just as seen from that beautiful vil- 
lage — the Jump, North and House mountains succeeding 
each other. They were familiar with a thousand associa- 
tions of our childhood, seeming mysteriously, when away 
from the spot, to bring my early home before me — not 
in imagination, such as had often haunted me when I 
first left to find another in the world, but in substantial 
reality. Further on down the valley, and at a great dis- 



\ 



APPENDIX. , 307 

tance, was the top of a large mountain, which was 
thought to be the Great North Mountain, away down in 
Shenandoah county. I am afraid to say how far off. 
Intermediate between these mountains, and extending 
opposite and far above us, was the Valley of Virginia, 
with its numerous and highly cultivated farms. Across 
this Valley, and in the distance, lay the remote ranges of 
the Alleghany and mountains about, and, I suppose, be- 
yond the White Sulphur Springs. Nearer us, and sepa- 
rating Eastern and Western Virginia, was the Blue 
Ridge, more than ever showing the propriety of its cog- 
nomen of the 'back bone/ and on which we could dis- 
tinctly see two zigzag turnpikes, the one leading to Fin- 
castle and the other to Buchanan, and over which latter 
we had traveled a few days before. With the spy-glass 
we could distinguish the houses in the village of Fincas- 
tle, some twenty- five or thirty miles off, and the road 
leading to the town. Turning towards the direction of 
our morning's ride, we had beneath us Bedford county, 
with its smaller mountains, farms and farm-houses, the 
beautiful village of Liberty, the county roads, and occa- 
sionally a mill-pond, reflecting the sun like a sheet of 
polished silver. The houses on the hill at Lynchburg, 
twenty-five or thirty miles distant, are distinctly visible 
on a clear day, and also Willis' mountain, away down in 
Buckingham county. 

"Myself and companions had, some time before, got- 
ten on different rocks, £hat we might not interrupt each 
other in our contemplations. I could not refrain, how- 
ever, from saying to one of them, f What little things we 



308 APPENDIX. 

are ! how factitious our ideas of what is extensive in ter- 
ritory and distance ! ' A splendid estate was about the 
size I could step over ; and I could stand and look at the 
very house whence I used to start in days gone by, and 
follow with my eye my day's journey to the spot where, 
wearied and worn, I dismounted with the setting sun. 
Yet I could look over what seemed so great a space with 
a single glance. I could also look away down the Valley 
of Virginia, and trace the country, and in imagination 
the stage coach, as it slowly wound its way, day and 
night, for successive days, to reach the termination of 
what I could throw my eye over in a moment. I was 
impressively reminded of the extreme littleness with 
which these things of earth would all appear when the 
tie of life which binds us here is broken, and we shall 
all be able to look back and down upon them from 
another world. The scene and place are well calculated 
to excite such thoughts. 

" It is said that John Randolph once spent the night 
on these elevated rocks, attended by no one but his ser- 
vant j and that when, in the morning, he had witnessed 
the sun rising over the majestic scene, he turned to his 
servant, having no other to whom he could express his 
thoughts, and charged him, i Never from that time to 
believe any one who told him there was no God/ 

u I confess, also, that my mind was most forcibly car- 
ried to the judgment day; and I could but call the atten- 
tion of my companions to what would, probably, then be 
the sublime terror of the scene we now beheld, when the 
mountains we saw and stood upon should all be melted 



APPENDIX. 809 

down like wax 5 when the flames should be driving over 
the immense expanse before us ; when the heavens over 
us should be c passing away with a great noise * ; and 
when the air beneath and around us should be filled with 
the very inhabitants now dwelling and busied in that 
world beneath us." 

Travelers in the public conveyances, who desire to 
visit the Peaks, should stop at Liberty, where carriages 
can be obtained for the mountain excursion. Those 
traveling in private conveyances may detour at Buchanan 
from the main Valley road, or from Liberty. They will 
find a well-graded turnpike from either of these places to 
the Peaks, and a comfortable hotel immediately at their 
base. 



THE HAWKS NEST, OR MARSHALL S PILLAR, 

Is on New River, in the County of Fayette, a few 
rods from the main turnpike leading from Guyandotte to 
the White Sulphur Springs —ninety-six miles from the 
former and sixty-four from the latter place. It consists 
of an immense column or pillar of rock, rising perpen- 
dicularly to the height of 1,000 feet above the river. It 
is called Marshall's Pillar in honor of the late venerable 
Chief Justice, who, as one of the State Commissioners 
appointed to reconnoitre that section of country for the 
location of a public improvement, stood upon its dizzy 
height and sounded its exact depth to the margin of the 
river. 



310 APPENDIX. 

A foreign traveler thus beautifully describes the ele- 
vating and sublime emotions with which he was inspired 
on visiting the Hawl^s Nest : 

*" You leave the road by a little by-path, and after 
pursuing it for a short distance, the whole scene sud- 
denly breaks upon you. But how shall we describe it ? 
The great charm of the whole is connected with the 
point of sight, which is the finest imaginable. You 
come suddenly to a spot which is called the Hawk's 
Nest. It projects on the scene, and is so small as to give 
standing to only some half dozen persons. It has on its 
head ail old picturesque pine ; and it breaks away at your 
feet abruptly and in perpendicular lines, to a depth of 
more than 1,000 feet. On this standing, which, by its 
elevated and detached character, affects you like the 
monument, the forest rises above and around you. Be- 
neath and before you is spread a lovely valley. A peace- 
ful river glides down it, reflecting, like a mirror, all the 
lights of heaven, washes the foot- of the rocks on which 
you are standing, and then winds away into another 
valley at your right. The trees of the wood, in all cheir 
variety, stand out on the verdant bottoms, with their 
heads in the sun, and casting their shadows at your feet, 
but so diminished as to look more like the pictures of 
the things than the things themselves. The green hills 
rise on either hand and all around, and give complete- 
ness and beauty to the scene ; and beyond these appears 
the gray outline of the more distant mountains, bestow- 

*Howe's History of Virginia. 



APPENDIX. 311 

ing grandeur to what was supremely beautiful. It is 
exquisite. It conveys to you the idea of perfect soli- 
tude. The hand of man, the foot of man, seem never 
to have touched that valley. To you, though placed in 
the midst of it, it seems altogether inaccessible. You 
long to stroll along the margin of those sweet waters, 
and repose under the shadows of those beautiful trees; 
but it looks impossible. It is solitude, but of a most 
soothing, not of an appalling character, where sorrow 
might learn to forget her griefs, and folly begin to be 
wise and happy/ ' 



THE ICE MOUNTAIN, 

In the county of Hampshire, is justly regarded as one 
of the most interesting and wonderful curiosities of the 
State. It is situated on the eastern bank of the North 
River, and is twenty-six miles N. "W. from Winchester, 
and sixteen miles E. from Ronmey. It rises to the 
height of near 500 feet above the river. 

*"The west side of the mountain, for a quarter of a 
mile, is covered with a mass of loose stone of a light 
color, which reaches down to the bank of the river. By 
removing the loose stone, pure crystal ice can always be 
found in the warmest days of summer. It has been dis- 
covered even as late as the 15th of September; but 
never in October, although it may exist throughout the 

*Howe'« History of Virginia. 



312 APPENDIX. 

entire year, and be found, if the rocks were excavated to 
a sufficient depth. The body of rocks where the ice is 
found is subject to the full rays of the sun from nine 
o'clock in the morning until sun-set. The sun does not 
have the effect of melting the ice as much as continued 
rains. At the base of the mountain is a spring of water 
colder by many degrees than spring water generally is. 
'Very near this spring/ says Kerchival, 'the owner of 
the property has removed the stone and erected a small 
log dairy, for the preservation of milk, butter and fresh 
meats. When the author saw this little building, which 
was late in the month of April, the openings between the 
logs, (on the side next the cavity from which the stone 
had been taken out,) for eighteen inches or two feet from 
the floor, were completely filled with ice, and about one- 
half the floor was covered with ice several inches thick. 
Mr. Deevers, who is the owner of the property, informed 
the author that milk, butter, or fresh meats of any kind, 
are perfectly safe from injury for, almost any length of 
time, in the hottest weather. If a fly venture in, he is 
immediately stiffened with the cold and becomes torpid. 
If a snake, in his rambles, happens to pass over the 
rocks covering the ice, he soon loses all motion and dies. 
Christopher Heiskell, Esq., informed the author that sev- 
eral instances had occurred of snakes being found dead 
among the rocks covering the ice. An intelligent young 
lady at the same time stated that she had seen instances 
of this character. In truth, it was upon her first sug- « 
gesting the fact, that the author was led to make the 
inquiry of Mr. Heiskell. And Mr. .Deevers stated that 



APPENDIX. 313 

he had several times removed torpid flies from his dairy 
into a more temperate atmosphere, when they soon re- 
covered life and motion, and flew off." 

A writer in Sillinran's Journal, Mr. C. B. Hayden, 
thus accounts for the curious phenomenon of the preser- 
vation of ice in this mountain : 

" The solution, I conceive, is found in the large and 
unusual collection of rocks, which, from their porous 
homogeneous texture, are extremely poor conductors of 
heat. One side of the mountain consists of a massive 
wall, many hundred feet in thickness, and heaped up 
against this as an abutment is a mass of rocks containing 
several thousand cubic feet. As the mountain has a gen- 
eral direction from N. E. to S. W.; the talus heap con- 
taining the ice has a N. W. exposure. The cavernous 
nature of this heap would admit the free entrance of 
atmospheric waters, which during the winter would form 
ice in the interior of the mass. The ice thus situated 
would be protected from external heat by the surround- 
ing rocks, as in a refrigerator, isolated and protected 
from the external temperature by the non-conducting 
sides of the refrigerator. The Ice Mountain only re- 
quires, for the explanation of its phenomenon, the appli- 
cation ®f the familiar principle upon which is constructed 
the common refrigerator, which temporarily effects what 
the Ice Mountain permanently does — a temperature in- 
dependent of external causes. The Ice Mountain is, in 
fact, a huge sandstone refrigerator, whose increased and 
unusual effects beyond those of the ordinary refrigerator, 



311 APPENDIX. 

are clue to the increased and unusual collection of poor 
conducting materials which form its sides/ ' 

In the same county there are several other curiosities 
of interest, particularly — 



CAUDY S CASTLE, THE TEA TABLE, AND THE 
HANGING ROCKS. 

Candy' s Castle (Howe) " was so named from having 
been the retreat of an early settler, when pursued by 
the Indians. It is the fragment of a mountain, in the 
shape of a half cone, with a very narrow base, which 
rises from the banks, of the Capon to the height of about 
500 feet, and presents a sublime and majestic ap- 
pearance. 

"The Tea Table is about ten miles from Caudy's Castle, 
in a deep, rugged glen, three or four miles east of the 
Capon. It is about four feet in height, and the same in 
diameter. From the top issues a clear stream of wa- 
ter, which flows over the brim on all sides, and forms a 
fountain of exquisite beauty. 

"The Hanging Rocks are about four miles north of 
Komney. There the Wappatomka Hiver has cut its way 
through the mountain of about 500 feet in height. The 
boldness of the rocks and the wildness of the scene 
excite awe in the beholder. 

A bloody battle, says tradition, was once fought at the 



APPENDIX. 315 

Hanging Rocks, between contending parties of the Ca- 
tawba and Delaware Indians, and it is believed that 
several hundred of the latter were slaughtered. Indeed, 
the signs now to be seen at this place exhibit striking 
evidence of the fact. There is a row of Indian graves 
between the rocks and public road, along the margin of 
the river, of from sixty to seventy yards in length. It is 
believed that very few of the Delawares .escaped. " 

Persons who visit the Capon Springs may conveni- 
ently see these curiosities, and they are all well worthy 
of the observation of the inquisitive traveler. 



SALT POND. 

The Salt Pond, now becoming celebrated among the 
curiosities of Western Virginia, is a beautiful lake of 
clear, deep, fresh water, on the top of the Salt^ Pond 
Mountain, one of the highest spurs of the Alleghany. 
It is in the county of Giles, ten miles east of Parisburg, 
and five from the Hygeian Springs. 

This pond (Howe) " is about a mile long, and one- 
third of a mile wide. At its termination it is dammed 
by a huge pile of rocks, over which it runs ; but which 
once passed through the fissures only. In the spring 
and summer of 1804, immense quantities of leaves and 
other rubbish washed in and filled up the fissures, since 
which it has risen full 25 feet. Previous to that time, 
it was fed by a fine large spring at its head ) that then 
disappeared, and several small springs now flow into it 



316 APPENDIX. 

at its tipper end. When first known, it was the resort of 
vast numbers of elk, buffalo, deer, and other wild ani- 
mals, for drink." It was also a place at which the pio- 
neers of the country salted their cattle in the mountain 
ranges ; and hence its name of " Salt Pond." It has no 
taste of salt, and is inhabited by fine trout and other 
fish. 

In enumerating the natural curiosities of the State, we 
have confined ourselves to those that may be conveniently 
reached by visiters to our springs ; nevertheless, the enu- 
meration embraces all the most celebrated, objects of the 
kind, Every watering place, and almost every neigh- 
borhood in our mountain regions, boast of their local 
curiosities, or their wild, beautiful, and picturesque 
scenery. Of these merely local objects of interest, every 
pilgrim to our mountains, either in his travels or kis so- 
journings, will not fail to hear, and to learn, npfc only 
their locality, but the peculiar interest that attaches to 
each. 



OLD POINT COMFORT. 

Although not strictly a natural curiosity, Old Point 
Comfort is now so distinguished, not only for its fine sea 
bathing, and as a place of fashionable and healthful re- 
sort by persons from every portion of our country, but 
also for its extensive fortifications guarding the entrance 
from the ocean into the interior of the country, that we 



APPENDIX. 137 

have thought some notice of it might "be acceptable to 
the spring-going and pleasure-seeking public. 

Old Point *"on which stands Fortress Monroe, is 2j- 
miles from Hampton, and about 12, in a direct line, from 
Norfolk. It is a promontory exactly on latitude 37°, 
and, with the opposing point Willougliby, forms the 
momth of James River. The name was given^ to it in 
1607, by the first colonists of Virginia, who, on their 
exploratory voyage up the James, previous to landing at 
Jamestown, called it Point Comfort "on account of the 
good channel and safe anchorage that it afforded. The 
prefix of. " Old" was afterwards given to distinguish it 
from u New Point Comfort." 

A fort was built on the Point a few years after the 
first settlement of the country. The following act for its 
erection was passed in March, 1629-30 : 

% 

"Matter- of notifications was againe taken into consid- 
eration, and Capt. Samuel Mathewes was content to un- 
dertake the raysing of a fFort at Poynt Comfort ; where- 
upon, Capt. Robert Ffelgate, Capt. Thomas Purfury, 
Capt. Thomas Graies, Capt. John Uty, Capt. Tho. Wil- 
loby, Mr. Tho. Heyrick, and Lieut. Wm. Perry, by full 
consent of the whole Assembly, were chosen to view the 
place, conclude what manner of fforte shall bee erected, 
and to compounde and agree with the said Capt. Ma- 
thewes for the building, raysing, and finishing the 
same," &c. 

* Howe's History of Virginia. 



318 APPENDIX. 

Count de Grasse, the admiral of the French fleet, 
threw up some fortifications on Old Point Comfort a 
short time previous to the surrender at York. 

The salutary experience, dearly bought in the lessons 
of the late war, when these waters were the resort of 
British fleets, has doubtless had much influence in 
prompting the erection of the fortresses Monroe and 
Calhoun. The first is one of the largest single fortifica- 
tions in the world, and is generally garrisoned by a regi- 
ment of the U. S. troops. 

The channel leading in from the Capes of Virginia to 
Hampton Roads, is at Old Point Comfort reduced to a 
very narrow line 1 . The shoal water, which, under the 
action of the sea, and re-acted upon by the bar, is kept 
up in an unremitting ripple, has given the name of Rip 
Raps to this place. 

"When the bar is passed, Hampton Roads affords one 
of the finest anchorages, in which navies could ride in 
safety. Fort Calhoun, or the castle of the Rip Raps, is 
directly opposite Fort Monroe, at 'the distance of 1900 
yards. The two forts are so constructed as to present 
immense batteries of cannon at an approaching hostile 
ship ; and the probabilities are, that long before she had 
completed the bendings of the channel, she would be 
a wreck or a conflagration from the hot shot thrown 
into her. 

The Rip Raps structure is a monument of the genius 
of the engineers by whom it was planned. It is formed 
upon an island, made from the sea by casting in rocks in • 
a depth of 20 feet of water, until, by gradual accumula- 



APPENDIX. 319 

tioiyit emerged above the tides. The present aspect of 
the place is rough and savage; the music of the sur- 
rounding elements of air and sea is in keeping with the 
dreariness and desolation of the spot ! 

Old Point affords a delightful beach for sea bathing, 
equal to any on the coast ; Hhis, with its fine hotels and 
the facility with which itjs reached from any quarter of 
the. country, make it a place of great resort during the 
summer months. 



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Boohs Published by J. W. Randolph, Richmond, Va. 

Notes on the State of Virginia. By Thomas Jef- 
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minute in its details, it will always present strong claims 
upon public confidence, enhanced and strengthened by 
the subject matter of its history, and the eminence of 
character and position of its author. 

The work is essentially Virginian : written, printed 
and bound in Virginia. It is from the press of Mr. 
Chas. H. Wynne, of this city, and is a very fine speci- 
men of the art of printing," — R. 0. Advocate. 

The Best Ansiver to Uncle Tom. Uncle Robin, 
in his Cabin in Virginia, and Tom without one in Bos- 
ton, by J. W. Page. Plates, $1.00 

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but little of the melo-dramic in the plot or treatment, 
that department having been abandoned to Mrs. Stowe. 
There is no poetry but the poetry of truth, and it is as 
little overstrained or prejudiced as the most exacting 
Yankee philosopher and critic can expect. It speaks in 
a calm tone, which is one that none but a strong cause 
can adopt." — Winchester Virginian. - 



Books Published by J. W. Randolph, Richmond, Va. 

Schooler s Geometry. Elements of Descriptive Ge- 
ometry — -the Point, the Straight Line, and the Plane — 
by Samuel Schooler, A. M., instructor in Mathe- 
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From Albert E. Church, M. A., Professor of Mathe- 
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" Dear Sir : I have examined your work with great 
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matics are so lucid, and the illustrations so beautiful and 
correctly drawn, that, with this book in his hand, I do not 
see that any pupil familiar with the elements of Geometry 
can find difficulty in acquiring a knowledge of the funda- 
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One extra copy for their own use will be given to those 
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Puffin on Manures. 

Essay on Calcareous Manures, by Edmund Ruffin, 
a practical farmer of Virginia from 1812, founder and 
sole editor of the Farmer's Register, member and Sec- 
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Boohs Published by J. W. Randolph, Richmond, Va. 

Wythe s Reports. 

Decision of Cases in Virginia by the High Court of 
Chancery, with remarks upon Decrees by the Court of 
Appeals, reversing some of those Decisions, by George 
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plete edition, with a memoir* of the author, analysis of 
the cases, and an index, by B. B. Minor, L. B., of the 
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joint tenants and tenants in common, by Wm. Green, 
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Hening and Munford's Reports. 

Reports of Cases argued and determined in the Supreme 
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with Memoirs of the Judges, whose decisions are re- 
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B. B. Minor, L. B. 4 vols., $20 

New Books in Preparation. — Barradall's, Hop- 
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and Practice, adapted to the New Code. 

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